  I awoke this day, as every other day, listening to the classical station on my FM radio. It is, without a doubt currently the only way I am exposed to any culture in our world. Where I used to fill my mind with the views, images and ideas of the television, I now have replaced that medium&nbsp;with insightful commentaries and discussions from prestigious individuals from around the world. The topics range from mainly music - since it is a classical and operatic radio station - through to&nbsp; extrapolating about the thoughts, feelings and motivations behind the pieces creation.
This is the side that I am mostly interested in. Since I find it remarkably dull (partly due to my own laziness) to head to the library and dig up a book on the legendary figures that have, and are, shaping our world, this serves me as an adequate portion of culture that I may digest at my leisure. &nbsp; This morning I was awoken to a discussion about William Shakespeare. Having aspirations of my own to someday become a great writer the discussion immediately piqued my interest. From my bed where I silenced my mongrel of&nbsp;a dog with a sharp rebuke and pricked up my ears to hear what was being said in the conversation. &nbsp; The discussion began with the shows host, an aged woman whose name I can never remember -&nbsp;even though she states it quite consistently at particular parts of the day - and a director currently working with the Bill Shakespeare theatre and operatic company. &nbsp; The Host began by questioning whether and if so, how much, influence did Shakespeare’s personal experiences with life have in his writing?&nbsp;Just to note,&nbsp;this is not an essay about this exact topic as it is mostly concerned with Shakespeare. I only included it to be informative and set the scene. Firstly, here is some info on the prodigious man himself: &nbsp; Shakespeare was married at an early age to a woman eight years his elder: Anne Hathaway. By the time he was 21 he had already completely some of the greatest stories/poetry of his day, that continued to last until the very contemporary era we now reside in. He was remarked to have unimaginable vision into the motivations and behaviours of humans - perhaps the makings of a great psychologist - and so exploited his awareness in his stories. Now the discussion wasn't about the ins and outs of his life, but these particular points were brought up and I wished to highlight them here.&nbsp; &nbsp; What I was fascinated with was that at such an early age, he possessed such amazing skill.
He was an artist with words and so painted a picture in your mind with his vivid vocabulary, articulate artistry, and the rudimentary romantic exploitations of his experience with, and understanding of, human behaviour. &nbsp; Until this very morning, I did not realise that this man was to be a new idol for me. Placed upon the pedistool that already contains the world-renowned Joe Satriani and Jimi Hendrix, J.R.R Tolkien shall now sit William Shakespeare. That mantle is not easily given in my books, but there are several good reasons and they shall be extrapolate below. &nbsp; Firstly, the man understood people. Being someone who is interested - and sometimes even obsessed - with the reasons and workings of humans myself, I find that perhaps I have someone here I can learn from and be influenced by. Of course I will not take his words in the medical context but more as a useful guide to facilitate my imagination when it comes to writing and manipulating humans in my stories.
This leads me to my second reason. &nbsp; We are both writers. Well, I shall humble myself and say that Shakespeare was a legendary writer and I his boot-shine. The man’s very spittle would turn to gold before it struck the cobblestone roads of 15th century England. I embellish about his fortunes here in the contemporary era but I don't think life was as peachy in Shakespeare’s time. No matter. This man experienced and understood two aspects of my life that give me great joy, exuberance and purpose; writing and psychology.
Had Shakespeare played the lute he would probably be numero uno on my life of worthy people to admire.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Thinking about&nbsp;Shakespeare led me into another&nbsp;stream of pondering.&nbsp;I am amazed at the early age upon which the legendary in our world seem to be unleashed. Einstein at 28 conceived the theory of relativity; Shakespeare at 21 had the hearts of people in their throats with his intricate writing style, combining poetry timing and format with a plethora of humanistic behaviours and motivations to perpetuate his imaginative tales.
&nbsp; This led to think about myself and my aims at being recognised in the world, at making my own renown, something that I have spoken about for some time now... &nbsp; I suppose I have always been ambitious. I don't aim to compete through conscious reasoning, but my heart tends to adrenalise a drive in me when it comes to such competition. It is not just in proving my superiority, but also in wishing for and achieving success&nbsp;does this drive become highly noticeable. I bring this up because I feel my heart has more ambition than my mind does skill. When I look to these legendary figures my ambition begins to soar; seeing a peak that it instantly wishes to climb; accepting the&nbsp;challenge of the gauntlet thrown at my feet. But I am dreaming. I&nbsp;have realised that to go out every day and seek to become legendary is absurd.
&nbsp; A legend is like an anomaly in that it is rare and product of many different systems interacting and coexisting together at that very moment. A minute shift in the balance and it is no more. It is a whisper on a mountain peak, that if a wind blows too strong it is gone and its chance at being heard is lost forever. The world is my mountain peak, and I feel I am the whisper in the wind. These, I guess you’d could call them insights, do not give me much comfort. Though my mind realises they are probably very true and indeed likely, my heart cannot give up the glory of such legendary ambitions. To place it in perspective, it is the Atlas of ambitions, so strong it could support the world upon its shoulders, as the great god himself was believed to.
How can I sequester such power? My mind must be a shadow in its strength if I am driven by such very basic instincts. I am so very young. I think here is where wisdom teaches you that being aware of a problem and understanding it are very different to living with its understandings and the knowledge that accompanies it. &nbsp; So quickly did this letter change from being about reverence to one of self-contemplation. Perhaps it is important to question the very difficulties and disagreements in our lives at the moment whence they arose, lest they be forgotten and ignored so to with the lesson they accompany. I feel there are many lessons to go and I am behind in my class. Time to do some cramming. &nbsp; Respectfully yours, &nbsp; DisSenter 
