I watched this fascinating thing the other day, which was a true story about a group
of young guys in 1972 that ended up in a Mexican prison with little hope of seeing the
light of day again for decades.
They just bought a bit of weed to sell on in order to fund their adventure, but it
all went horribly wrong when they ended up shipwrecked on the boat they were in,
which led to their capture and incarceration.
What do you do when you’re stuck in a concrete cell surrounded by walls and guards patrolling day and night?
I’ll tell you what these guys did…
They got a crappy old butter knife and they hacked away at the concrete floor
in their prison cell, until they got to the soil underneath. That alone was a feat in itself.
Underneath the concrete the soil was actually more like muddy slop.
The next thing they did blew my mind…
Using this cruddy butter knife, they spent 7 MONTHS digging a 50 foot tunnel to get past the prison walls.
To work out where they were going, one of them made a periscope out of what looked
to me like a piccolo filed down, with a couple of bits of mirrored glass strategically placed either end.
These guys were more like surf dude engineers than low-level crims.
Can you imagine what your mind has to get past, adversity wise, to see that as a possible solution?
It’s true what they say. Any limitations that you believe exist, only do so in the mind.
It was the most inspiring and fascinating account of human endeavour I’ve probably ever witnessed outside of POW camps.
Next time I think something feels hard, I’m just going to think of those guys. Absolute friggin’ rockstars.
We don’t need posters of Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift on the walls, we need one of these guys digging their way out of prison with a knife usually reserved for spreading jam and butter on scones.
Imaging the convo outside prison after escaping:
“Where you been dude? I haven’t seen you for months”
“Yeah. Well, I was shipwrecked after hiding drugs in a surfboard, then ended up having
to sign a confession at gunpoint, so I’ve spent the last 7 months digging my way out of prison
with a blunt butter knife. How have you been?”
“WOW that’s unbelievable. Me? Oh, you know… the usual. Hey, do you think you could tunnel
your way to that ATM over the road with this old spoon?”
“Don’t take the piss.”
Faith + Planned Execution can overcome almost any obstacle, even against daunting odds where the outcome seems almost impossible.
I’m still blown away by it. How many people would have capitulated with a blunt knife and a soul full of hope? Most!
So, the lesson here is: The Obstacle Is The Way. And how!