Look up. If you can look up, you can get up.
Les says it’s all in the mindset.

Look, Look up, even if you try for the moon
and fail,
you will land among the stars.
Les says it’s all in the mindset.

I want to tell you a little tale.

There was a man with dreams.
Big dreams. So many dreams that he started to lose sleep
on those dreams.
So many dreams that he started to dream those dreams
while he went through his day.
So many dreams, his mind started to scream, You are the One.
So many dreams.
So many dreams.

His dreams were peaceful. He wanted to teach you.
They were too big, too full.
Scared a lot of people.
He went too far in normal society, made too big a statement.

Soon, he was labeled, diagnosed, a medicated patient.
He spent his time trying to understand his mind.
He wrote, drew pretty pictures, went to bed on time.
Went to groups, learned he had an illness.
Learned he was Icarus, and his mind
was a step between brilliance and madness.
They told him to take this prescription
as it is written, one at 7, make sure with food.
Go to sleep, watch your mood.
So the man with big dreams was now silenced a bit.
He had big dreams, but now they were muddled.
His mindset dimmed, his appetite increased, his mood barely went up,
this walking deceased.
He would go to groups
and let it all out in therapy sessions,
Wondering where the break in his mind was
and why he needed medicine.

His senses were dulled, his brain erased.
Memory gone, debased and misplaced.
His joy was clouded, and those dreams were fading.
He was a walking patient.

One day he woke up,
read Les Brown, heard it in his head
If you can look up, you can get up.

Realized these little band aid medications
couldn’t mess with his make-up.
So, though medicated and dealing
with the shit that he faced day to day,
he began to learn, he began to meditate.
He began to speak up, say Yeah,
I’m an advocate. They gave me a diagnosis.
Can’t silence the sound that come out of my mouth.
You with me?
Soon there were other advocates
and places that accepted him,
for his brilliance, for his madness, for his everything.

His dreams began to wake up, like society.
All of a sudden did a 360.
His mind was like spray painted graffiti
on what the world should be.
His dreams were now the world’s reality,
and though he suffered,
there was no more apathy.
He was going to get it, go for it.
He was going to shoot for the moon

Even if he fell, he would still land among the stars.

That fable is true. It’s the Survivor in You.
All of you.
Not just me, but you too.
You, and You, and you.

To the beaten down medicated victim, a diagnosis,
don’t let it stop you.
Be true to your vision.
Believe those gifts you have to be true.
Let that manic energy come out
in your paintings, in your dancing,
in your running the marathon,
in your painting the sun, in your hip hop
and guitar strums, your snap shot photography,
your mind when you speed read,
your art, your poetry, your master’s degree,
your conversations, your comedy.

Let that trauma of thinking big and being silenced
turn not to violence but defiance.

Walk with your head up
’cause if you can look up, you can get up.
And even if you shoot for the moon,
you will still land
with the
stars.

Jason Wright is the editor and founder of Oddball Magazine. His column appears weekly. His third book, Train of Thought 2: Almost Home will be available in April 2021.
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