Hi, I'm Michael Mistretta, a student passionate about technology, photography, and design. Welcome to my online home where I write about technology, reviews, and my thoughts and opinions on technology-related matters. 
Imagination. When I was a child, that used to be the catch phrase. “You can accomplish anything you put your mind to”. “Your dreams can come true”. But that was when I was a kid. Not anymore. Now things have changed.
I live in a world of people who think small. People who dream small. I live in a world of average people doing average things living average lives. No more talk about dreaming. About imagining. About thinking big. I’m living in the world of adults. The world of hopelessness. The world of averages. Reality. And I’m already sick of it.
I don’t want to be just another person in the world. I don’t want to go along with the status quo. I don’t want to become just like them. The world thinks small. They think locally - not globally. They think in thousands - not in billions. Only a few, truly understand what it’s like to think big. To think beyond themselves and their houses and their neighbourhoods. To think outside their countries and their continents. To view the world from different eyes. To think different.
Why do I bring this up? Maybe it’s the way the world belittles a person’s potential. Maybe it’s the because the world thinks too small. Maybe it’s because the world hates change. Maybe it’s a combination of all these things. I’m tired of people making comments about working at Wendy’s or McDonald’s for the rest of their lives. Why to people have to think so small?
I’ve learned that for someone to be successful, they don’t have to be a genius. They don’t have to be a good speaker. They don’t even have to be rich. All they really need to do, is to think outside of the box. To break the mold the world created for them. The people who truly made a difference, are the ones who thought different. Albert Einstein. Martin Luther King Jr. Steve Jobs. These people made a difference in the world. They thought beyond themselves. They thought outside their local communities. They were mocked, made fun of, and doubted. But they came through. And now look at them. Look at where they are in history. Look at where they are today.
I’m tired of the world telling me who I am. I’m tired of living inside the world’s set of requirements. I’m tired of just getting by. I want to be different. I strive to be different. I want to dream big dreams. I want to imagine. I want to think different.
Very nice, truly being different means changing things. The people in your above list are reformers, scientists, and business people. For me, I want to change things by making things and ideas. One needs to find an outlet with unique output. I want mine to be my writing, programming, and other stuff.
I have no idea how people can be satisfied with a regular job. As a Humanist, I want to improve things for the human race —however best I may. Yet I feel that a small effort would be utterly insignificant. Many turn to religion to find a higher purpose. I find many of those efforts too ambiguous. I strive to make a positive difference in other’s lives somehow.
I heartily agree with you on the importance of open-mindedness.
Comment by PhoeniX42 — January 13, 2008 @ 8:26 pm
Wow, you should be a promotional speaker or a scriptwriter or something, or maybe Apple will start up those Think Different ads again just so you can be the narrator! Wow.
Comment by KeatonTech — January 13, 2008 @ 11:42 pm
Well said. Exactly how I feel as well.
Comment by Nick Humphries — January 15, 2008 @ 1:21 am
Thank you
Comment by James Matarrese — January 15, 2008 @ 10:57 pm
YES!
Comment by Anthony — January 20, 2008 @ 9:13 am
I have to say: you’re probably the single most intelligent 15-year-old I’ve seen, online or off. You’ve found an interest you’re passionate about and you’re working toward it at such a young age. Not to mention quite eloquently!
(I found your blog via lurking on Reddit, to let you know.)
Major kudos to you - you’re a real inspiration to someone losing a lot of faith in local-thinking humanity.
Comment by Jamie Isfeld — March 13, 2008 @ 5:55 pm
Well done Michael. This post is almost too similar to a journal entry of mine when I was 15. I’m 20 now, and the last five years has been an extraordinary search for the big picture–in my life, and in the world. I think young people like you and I might have an easier time seeing the big picture. IT could be that we, growing up in a time where the pace of change is unprecedented, are hardwired to look for what’s next, and by extension, the big picture.
But I have another thought. Like you, I’ve traveled abroad. I’m from a small town in Montana, and grew up pretty sheltered. When I was 14, I traveled to Mexico to work in an orphanage. When I was 15, I built a high school in a tiny village in Guatemala. Sometimes I think that the direct contrast of my sheltered childhood and working in the third world sparked a lifelong desire to understand the big picture. I skipped the slow cultural conditioning which many go through…which I believe slowly numbs them to the world’s challenges. When I read this post, it felt like reading my reflections on my trip to Guatemala. I can only guess that you shared some aspects of my experience.
Our generation is full of people like you and I. We refuse to accept the existing reality, the fear mongering, the small thinking. Many of us want a vision to aspire to, and regardless of your politics or mine, this is probably a reason for Obama’s popularity.
At such a crucial moment in history, it’s never been more important to see the big picture. People like you and I have a critical role to play. The challenges we face demand solutions that understand diverse aspects of the problem and a synergy of available opportunities.
I think you’re already much farther along than I was at 15–certainly much more eloquent. If you allow me to give one piece of advice, it would be the following: in your search for answers, you’ll discover each problem is part of a bigger problem. The more you look, the more you’ll see how screwed up our world is. Your search for the big picture will probably take you through politics, philosophy, history, religion, and I can guarantee…you’ll often feel overwhelmed. But you’ll also see the many opportunities available to us. They are out there, and they are wonderful And that can give you hope. As Thomas Paine once said “The Mind, once enlightened, cannot again become dark.” Another perspective, of course, is that ignorance is bliss. If you go down this road, you give up living the simple and innocent life. But I know you’d never be satisfied with that!
So I offer this advice: Stay hungry. Stay curious. And always stay optimistic. It’s not certainly not easy…but IT IS possible. The way I see it, the survival of humanity depends on people like us. So no pressure!
“A revolution is coming — a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough — But a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability.”
- Robert F. Kennedy, in a speech in the US Senate (9 May 1966)
Good luck Michael. I’ll see you at the top.
Comment by fellow big thinker — March 14, 2008 @ 6:49 pm