Tyson was about three and a half years old when the movie Superman came out in 1978. He remembers how strongly the exhilarating fantasy of being able to fly imprinted on his young mind. By the time Superman II came out in 1980, he had been running around the house for two years with a sheet, towel or long-sleeved shirt wrapped around his neck, flapping behind him, representing his superhero cape.
With Great Determination
At some point, Tyson realized that was all just silly child’s play. The time had come for him to get serious and see if he could fly. With great determination, Tyson set off on my own to find out if he could fly, without anybody else knowing. So one day, he walked outside, gazed up at the rooftop and thought, “I need to be high up enough to get going. Flying will be pretty easy once I’m in the air.”
But before Tyson climbed onto the roof, his better judgment overcame his ambition, and he decided to launch from the ground first. He went to the backyard, where there was a longer runway. Tyson crouched down and pushed his feet into the ground to brace myself for his takeoff. He closed his eyes and took off as fast as his little five-year-old body could go. For a brief second, he was flying.
It was wonderful. Amazing!— until gravity won. His chest slammed onto the ground first, and then his face bounced off the ground. Thankfully, the soil was soft. Tyson toppled over himself, feeling a decent amount of pain, tasting grass and collapsing in the dirt. Tyson lay still for a minute and waited for the pain to subside while trying to figure out what he had done wrong.
Because he was five years old and stubborn — determined — Tyson tried a few more times. He tried to run faster. He tried to make my takeoff run longer, and then shorter. And then he tried to jump and leap on takeoff. Each attempt resulted in another fall and more pain.
Now he was questioning whether it was really possible to fly.
He Was Flying Until He Wasn’t
Tyson had watched mother birds push their baby birds out of the nest in a tree to teach them to fly. He figured that being up high probably was necessary after all. He really did need to climb up on the roof. Next to his house was an old rock wall, made of stacked fieldstones, probably 100 years old. It was about three feet high and two feet wide and had a smooth cement cap on top of it.
One part of the fence was higher than the part next to it. Tyson decided he would run along the top of that fence, as he had had many times as a kid, and jump off of that higher part.
Again, with child-like faith, Tyson took off down that runway and timed his leap perfectly. Of course he had his makeshift cape on, and he could feel it flapping behind him as he launched into flight. Tyson’s arms were stretched high in the air, and the wind rushed past his ears. But, like on all the previous tries, gravity won. He was flying until he wasn’t.
He Never Wore A Cape Again
Although he wasn’t able to fly, he did learn a valuable lesson: the higher up you are, the more power gravity has. And the more it hurts when you land on the ground.
Tears rolled down his face. Tyson was disappointed and frustrated. At that point, he realized that flying was nothing more than a childlike fantasy, that he would never fly and that there was no Superman.
Something inside him died that day — the stuff of dreams and imagination, the place inside him where wild imagination and fantasies lived. Even though he was not quite six, though, Tyson understood that flying or not flying wasn’t the point. What mattered was the intense feeling of aliveness he felt when he thought he could fly.
Like Superman?
In life, we all attempt to accomplish things that are impossible — fools’ errands, as they call them. On the other side of the coin are things in life that are possible, yet we don’t believe we can accomplish them, so we don’t attempt them.
In Tyson’s 25-year career, he has come across many people who think investing is a fool’s errand. They think that owning equities and investing in the markets is impossible for them. Even if they have seen others invest successfully, they figure it’s just make-believe, like Superman. They see it as a mere fantasy. What’s more real to them is the people they know who have lost money in the markets. They figure it’s not a risk they want to take.
Yes, the reality is that if you make an investment in one company, that company’s value can come crashing down. But if you make an investment in many companies — which is what you are doing when you diversify your portfolio — you find out that over time, ownership of these investments can be very rewarding.
“The man who has no imagination has no wings.” —Muhammad Ali
Every investor’s situation is unique and you should consider your investment goals, risk tolerance and time horizon before making any investment. Holding stocks for the long-term does not insure a profitable outcome. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected, including asset allocation and diversification.
