The Brick Wall

The Brick Wall

Pacing, back and forth,
Back and forth like a caged animal.
The floor is hard and dirty
My hands and feet are covered in filth
But I continue to pace
Hoping for change.

The brick wall shrinks not,
but seems to grow taller.
I want on the other side
But I am told I must wait.
So I wait, and wait some more.

Will the brick wall grow a door,
Or must I build a ladder to climb.
I have tried pushing
And scraping
And climbing with my bare hands
But the brick wall holds me
I will wait it out
But for how long will I be a caged animal?


(I don't usually write poetry, but I felt inspired by my friend Andrew who is a poet. You can check out his blog in the side bar. So this is my attempt at writing poetry. Tell me what you think. Kyle thinks that I should take out "the brick wall shrinks not" and say "The brick wall doesn't shrink." Your thoughts, criticisms, and comments are welcome and wanted. Thank you.)


I recently watched Randy Pausch speak in the “Last Lecture” series given at Carnegie Melon. The purpose of this series is to allow professors to give a lecture over anything they want, as if it were their last lecture. For Randy Pausch, however, it was his last. Diagnosed with a terminal cancer, the lecture’s title took on new meaning. His speech, however was not about cancer or about overcoming it, but about achieving his childhood dreams. One of the things that struck me was what he called “brick walls.” Brick walls are his metaphor for barriers that get in the way of your goals and dreams. But, he said, they are there for a reason. They are there to keep those who don’t want it badly enough out. As most of you know, we have run into our own brick wall. A brick wall that has an indention from the multiple times we have banged our heads against it. I would like to attach another purpose to Mr. Pausch brick wall, in that it makes the achievement all the more sweet when your blood and sweat has been spent. So many things have come easily to us in the past. Maybe, the purpose of our brick wall was to throw us back into reality. Life isn’t always easy, it is a struggle, but the more we struggle, the more reward we feel when we reach that goal. “The sweet isn’t as sweet without the bitter” is one of my favorite quotes because I feel it is right on the mark. We really want it, and if we have to sit in the holding room for a while, then that is what we shall do. For now, I will just have to imagine the sweet taste of victory running down my throat, because eventually we will get over this wall. We will succeed because we do want it badly enough!

If you want to want watch the lecture, click here for the link.