Go forth and make legends

Original Speech by António Luz

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Charles Bukowsky said “find your passion and let it kill you.”

I agree with the sentiment. I strive to be passionate about everything I do; passion will take us where nothing else will, it will make us stand out. I am not a reasonable man, nor do I intend to be one; I intend that, in a thousand years, history graduates must take a subject named “António Luz’s achievements” and I intend for my biography to be written on twenty bricks of paper; I intend to give history students night sweats when hearing my name.

To do so I intend to emulate the classics, I intend to accomplish feats capable of inducing jaw dislocations, I intend to wrestle giants, I intend to give Donald Trump an ivory forehead, I intend to write epics not written since the epic of Gilgamesh. In ten thousand years I want people to still remember my name, and that isn’t reasonable but I’ll pour blood, sweat and tears into it, because when you are passionate about something it isn’t reasonable but you do it anyway… Gladly.

And why do I make this declaration of intent to you?

Because I also want you to be passionate about something; not the same topics of my passion necessarily, but something, and no! being passionate about binge-watching Netflix, and completing video game upon video game doesn’t count. No one will ever remember you for it, these are things you do to blow off steam (pun intended), not life goals. If you want to be a parent, be a great parent, become the dad or mom of legend. If you want to be a writer, declare yourself the best writer now and keep the title from now until the day you die. If you want to become a translator, live and breathe in every tongue you know. If you want to be a politician, be selfless, rally all to your cause and die without knowing the shame of breaking an oath. If you want love, make your love immortal, worthy of being recalled with awe in a thousand years, the stuff that launched a thousand ships and burned Ilion to a fine crisp.

Be the stuff of legend, my friends. Yes it’s hard work, yes it’s painful, yes we will fail many times, but every time we fail, rise again and fail better, keep moving ever onward. In the end it might be pointless, in the end we are all dead men, and maybe it’s just sound and fury signifying nothing, but think of the monumental ride you’ll have. Alexander failed, he didn’t conquer all the known world, he didn’t mix races until they were no longer recognizable, but for a thirty-two year old man, what a ride he had; that is the way I want us to fail: to fail in a way that puts every known success to shame.

It’s not just the result; it’s the process, it's loving what we do with such passion we don’t care to do anything else. Do you know what the best weight to lift is? It’s the one you think you can’t lift, and, as your muscles beg you to stop, your teeth grind, your throat grunts, you still push on and you lift it. The very first time I did that I was hooked, it made me feel invincible.

The best things in life are on the other side of pain, fear and effort, and I have my brother Augustine’s words blasting in my ears as a battle cry, “God gives everyone suffering. It’s like a fire which burns rich and poor alike, it burns everyone, but, just as fire, it burns away straw and makes the gold shine brighter.” I want to shine so bright that aliens on the other side of the universe will see me, and I want you to do so as well; I want to become the worst man who ever lived, not through my fault, or lack of effort, or commitment, but by being surpassed by your achievements.

Go forth and make legends.