Decisions
Visiting historic places has always made me think and reflect upon my daily life. Recently, I’ve visited the “Body and Soul, from Donatello to the Michelangelo” exhibition in Milan and was struck by the beauty of the subliminal “Rondanini Pieta” (the last, unfinished work of Michelangelo). Staring at the sculpture and slowly circling around it I was imagining the amount of work and commitment it requires to sculpt: starting with an unappealing block of hard stone and unleashing its potential slowly chipping away unnecessary pieces. Is it not that we all face “blocks of marble” when we start a new project, a career change, or working on a scientific hypothesis? Slowly, we “chip” away unnecessary details, refining the idea until we unleash a potential (not successfully all the time of course!).
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Later I remembered a photo I took of Michelangelo's David sculpture, and I thought to myself: what does it actually represent and why is it so captivating? Michelangelo had to decide: should he represent his victory (defeating the Goliath)? Perhaps his physical strength, or him being a leader, king? No. The artist represents David’s decision. The decision to face his obstacles & battles. I found this to be a very powerful message — the decision is one of the most important aspects of success, don’t you think?
