Tuesday, April 14, 2009

ONE MAN'S LIFE OF NO REGRET

ONE MAN'S LIFE OF NO REGRET

How would you like to climb the highest mountain, fly at the speed of sound, explore the ocean in a submarine, run a five minute mile, parachute from a plane, read the encyclopedia cover to cover, or play classical music on the piano? These are some of the dreams John Goddard had as a child, and at age 15 he included these on a list -- 127 things he would like to do or see or experience during his lifetime. Today, John is 74, and he has completed 109 of his goals. John is one of the world's famous adventurers and a world-class motivational speaker. Articles about him appear in Life, National Geographic Magazine, Reader's Digest, and the book Chicken Soup for the Soul. He has shared these amazing stories with students of all ages all over the world. Here are some of his accomplishments: He climbed the Matterhorn during a blizzard that was so bad, not even the professional climbers would go along. He retraced the route of Marco Polo through all of the Middle East, Asia and China. He rode in the Rose Parade, visited the Great Wall of China, the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, and the everglades of Florida. He was the first man to explore the whole length of the world's longest river, the Nile. Two other men went with him on this 4,200-mile, 10-month trek (John says he had yet one more traveling companion -- he contracted a tape worm that he named Rodney). And what kind of boat do you suppose they used for the trip? Each man paddled his own little kayak! He also boated down the Amazon, Congo and others. He was charged by hippos, crocodiles, a furious wart hog, and bloodsucking leeches in the Congo. He survived plane crashes, earthquakes, three rounds with quicksand, almost drowned twice, and had an appendicitis attack 200 miles from the nearest health care facility. He has faced death 38 times. He was bitten by a diamondback rattlesnake and lived! He became the youngest ever admitted to the Adventurers' Club of Los Angeles, and is a member of the Royal Geographic Society of England, The French Explorers' Club, the Mach II Club, and others. He has lived with 260 different tribal groups. John says these tribes range "from the head hunters of New Guinea, to the pygmies of Central Africa, to the hippies of Tempe ...." He has climbed Ararat, Kilimanjaro, Fiji, Rainier, Matterhorn, and the Grand Tetons. He has been to 120 countries, learned to fly a plane, explored underwater the reefs of Florida, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Red Sea, and more. He has flown 47 different types of aircraft, and set several civilian air-speed records including one at 1,500 miles an hour. He flew an F-106 to an altitude of 63,000 feet, making him the only civilian to pilot an aircraft that high, a record which he still holds. John was asked which adventure brought him the most pleasure and excitement. "Oh, that's easy," John says. "It has to be my family -- my wife and five children."



I was reading through a 1972 Life Magazine (Some one sent me a story from Life which i had never knew existed) and came across his story in the magazine that I found so fascinating that it changed my whole Perpective on life and things that matter.In 1940, When John was 15 he sat down and wrote a list of 127 things he wanted to do before he died. Below is a scan of the list






A copy of the list can be found on his website as well. In 1972 (at 47 years old) he had accomplished 104 of them. In the years since he has added 5 more for a total of 109. John now calls himself the "Real Indiana Jones" and has made a living as a speaker discussing all his expeditions and accomplishments. I think I am more amazed that a 15 year old can comprise such a detailed and expansive list. Who even knows about all these things at 15? What I find a bit confusing is why he has only added 5 in the last 25 years. He should have climbed Everest and seen the Poles by now. And how hard can it be to become a HAM radio operator? Despite my wonders, it is an unbelievable list and amazing how many he has accomplished.



How many have you done? My count stands at 6 with the chance to add a few more.
In my opinion: (for me not for Goddard)



The easiest: Live to see the 21st century

The Hardest: Go to the moon

A few photos of each accomplishment from Life 1972:

Biography of John Goddard :

"To dare is to do ... to fear is to fail."

This philosophy has characterized John Goddard since he was 15, when he listed 127 challenging lifetime goals--like exploring the Nile, climbing Mt. Everest, running a five-minute mile and playing Clair de Lune on the piano. Now, a generation later, he has accomplished 109 of these quests, and has logged an impressive list of records in achieving them. He was the first man in history to explore the entire length of the world's longest river, the Nile, in a 4,160 mile expedition which the Los Angeles Times called "the most amazing adventure of this generation." He then matched that achievement and became the first man ever to explore the entire length of the Congo; he scaled the Matterhorn in a raging blizzard after several professional guides had refused to go along, and he has established numerous records as a civilian jet pilot, including a speed record of 1,500 mph in the F-111 Fighter-Bomber, and an altitude record of 63,000 feet n the F-106 Delta Dart. A graduate of the University of Southern California where he majored in anthropology and psychology, Goddard has studied obscure cultures in all parts of the globe. In addition, he has climbed 12 of the world's highest mountains, conducted 14 major expeditions into remote regions, traversed 15 of the worlds most treacherous rivers, visited 120 countries, studied 260 primitive tribes, and traveled in excess of one million miles during his adventurous life. A resident of La Canada, California, where he lives with his wife and two of his five children, Goddard does not believe in pursuing adventure for the sake of frivolous thrills, but used these experiences to achieve a worthwhile end. This end, for him, is scientific exploration, adding to the world's store of knowledge. "Digging out the facts is the real challenge," Goddard says in summing up his career. "The adventure is exciting and enjoyable--but secondary." Yet digging out the facts can be a hazardous occupation. Goddard has been bitten by a rattlesnake, charged by an elephant, and trapped in quicksand. He has crashed in planes, been caught in earthquakes, and almost drowned twice while running rapids. But his overwhelming desire to discover fresh knowledge and to complete his youthful list of goals has driven him on in spite of the danger. Honored by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce as one of California's outstanding young men, Goddard belongs to the Adventurers' Club of Los Angeles (youngest member ever admitted), the Adventurer's Club of Chicago, the Explorers' Club of New York, the Savage Club of London, the Royal Geographic Society, the French Explorers' Society (only American member), the Archaeological Society, the Mach II club, the Sigma Chi Fraternity, of which he is a life member.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Pursuit Of Happiness...

Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence,

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Am I am not entitled to being happy??. Good heavens, Maybe I do not deserve to be happy, but I know i can, and should pursue the same even if to no ends. This does not mean that because I am pursuing happiness I can’t be happy at the same time...Maybe iam happy in the pursuit or maybe the moist touch of that miracles makes me lust for more...Sometimes it's a curse and sumtimes it's a blessing but neverthless it's a pursuit everlasting and in parts unattainable .

So why must we always be HAPPY? When I say HAPPY I mean forced smile HAPPY, mega HAPPY, frappacappaccino HAPPY, long nights with a bottomless keg and broken promises HAPPY, ginormous diamond ring HAPPY, red sports car HAPPY, not married HAPPY, stiletto sandals HAPPY, lonely, aching, empty, searching, wounded heart but by gosh HAPPY. …HAPPY?
…is this really what we want? If it is, yeah, I do see why we wouldn’t be happy in our pursuit. Why pursue at all? If we were to pursue, we might actually catch a glimpse of what our "HAPPY" is made of. Sometime ago i came across this quote and it nearly broke my heart…and summed up our sad little world:
"It's going to come true like you knew it would, but it's not going to feel like you thought it would"
-Rosie O'Donnell
…so I am happy in my pursuit, because for me the pursuit is about completing my life.I have realized that somewhere we are all incomplete,we live our whole lives like that.Incomplete in love,incomplete in success even incomplete in our failures. Somewhere all i long for is completion,somewhere all i lust for is fullfilment. Maybe it's our destinies to find our elixer just as it's our destiny to reach our waterloo. I may never find what iam looking for but i know only a touch of that happiness will complete me for ever.

Someone ones told me"People learn early in their lives what is their reason for being",fortunately or unfortunately i have still not learnt that but the more i learn i realize this is the reason...maybe this is all my reasons.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Going Home!!!





To dance
like nobody's watching; to
love like you've never been hurt;

to sing like nobody's listening; to live like
it's heaven on
earth.....


This has been really long due...I have to admit i was lost and it's not easy to find your way back home. Iam still not home but there are times i feel i am getting there.

"Hope is a good thing, its the best of things and no good thing ends bad"

- Morgan Freeman (Shawsank Redemption)


Maybe all this time i was just trying to survive on hope and a little smoke.but sooner or later one realizes that...On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero. The things you own end up owning you.The people you know end up disowning you.The places you go end up going away from you...It's strange when you realize after travelling so long and so alone that all you ever wanted to reach was HOME. There was a time very long ago when i knew what home was,where it was and how did one get back home but now after coming so far and learning so much i have lost what i once knew i had.The biggest Irony of life is that even when u know u want to go back u cannot go back,there are no reverse gears in this vehicle.When u step aside and think back u realize that all of us share a common destiny of getting to ur perceived goals in life or die trying ...

Thursday, May 3, 2007

The year that was...

Of all the things and people i lost here....
I will miss my mind the most
This year a lot changed inside me a lot that i never knew existed was lost awa in the sand dunes of times and circumstances. I say a world changing infront of my eye, a world as it never was, a world as it never will be... Boys became men, men went on to become boys again...time stoped (or was it lost ???/) life stoped even love stoped.
Dreams were lost and squandered,Dreams were refounded and bloosemed,some lost all they ever wanted and some won all they never knew they wanted...I stood around everything watching and thnking were this stupid life is growing. Things changed the way they never had,they way they never would,One day u knew where u were going and the very next day u never even knew what were u doing.People came people saw and people left....That became the epitach of the year gone by...A postscript to all that never was or will never be. I lost all that i came with and in turn got all that was never rightfully my own. Somewhere down the line i lost control,objectivism and above all proffesionalism. This was no more about a career it became life or should i say sumthing like it.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

The ideosynacricies of a stupid Mind...

Sometimes i pity my stupidity and then i repeat them again and again.I go around thinking thn i control my world...I AM A GIANT but actually neither do i hv the control nor i am a GIANT...Maybe its the self Image iam in more love with rather than the truth.I need to correct my mistakes,learn from them and try not to repeat them later.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

The Stupidity we do......

I seldom realize my stupidities in life.....Its just that when i do realize what is it that i do,I feel so embarased and disgusted.Why do i always end up like this??? Why do i always do the same mistakes again and again......I may have the questions bt the answers are hard to comprehend.In our trying to build relationships we actually end up killing ourselves,how can i teach sumone how to live life??? We can never teach a person anything ,they do things on there own silly convenience. People have there conveniences and Priorities,they see life not through the eyes of a human but through the prism of convenience.I never understand why do people malign the names of other people??? What fun do they get by making fun of others??? Why do they use people to make them dependent upon oneself ???
Someday i want to realize why people break relations just because they get irritated by others.I never understood why someone would break a relation to make another one....I also want to understand why do people let others slave them and make them there pets....People make relationships,break relationships,make new relationship.break old relationships.depend upon relationships,cry over relationships,get enslaved by relationship,Are used by relationships......And then they again make Relationships.The irony of life is relationships,we never learn to live without them and we do learn with them.....
Sometimes i wonder if people are really the way they are or are they what they can never show.People cheat, caress , cry, shout and laugh but in the end they only do wht hurts u the most...When u let someone enter ur heart u not only allow him a space in ur heart but u also give him the power to hurt u where it hurts the most...
Why do we allow people a space in our heart...???/
Who gives thm the power to hurt....???/
Who gives them a right to fool around us.....???/

I never was able to understand Myself,bt nw i guess i cant even make others understand myself...Maybe its the others who dont understand themselves leave alone understand me. Someday i may foget the hurt but i know i will never be able to forgive the pain that the hurt caused deep inside...Imay never remain the same but i will always wonder are people any happier or any more satisfied then iam today...

Sunday, February 25, 2007

ATTITUDE OF SILENCE....

Silence ....is a never ending struggle do know where we are going.It is a never ending wait of where we will be. Sometime we feel we know the people around us and sometimes we realize that we even dont know ourself. My father once told me it is not the moments that we live for but then again it is the moments which we all finally remember...