Life is a Stone, Man is the Carver

For you to become a success you need an inspiration that will serve as a light in all your endeavors. With a greater perspiration one achieves a greater future; this is the succession of a brighter & colorful tomorrow.

Now, Michelangelo’s quote gives a direct insight of what it takes to be fulfilled. On this note, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free” breaking down this topic I have tried various alternatives as the quote appears to be the kind that requires deep thinking to understand. Finally, I got to a conclusion about it and without any hesitation this quote is giving a dramatic picture of living a successful life i.e. the hunger to achieve a brighter future.

Therefore I decided to make the meaning of this quote clearer:

“I saw the Angel in the Marble and carved until I set him free”-Michelangelo Story derived from the life of Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni “

He was born into a banking family just outside of Florence. When he was tender in age his mother died and his father sent him to live with a stone cutter’s family. He always wanted to be an artist and he hated school. Finally he convinced his father to let him go study. Under a famous artist Ghirlandaio for two years Michelangelo discovered his true passion; sculpture. His Father unwillingly sent him to a school for sculptors founded by the great Lorenzo de Medici who felt amazed with Michelangelo’s work and offered him a reward if he would stay in the palace. Lorenzo was a great patron of the arts and saw Michelangelo’s talent early. While he stayed in the Palace he dined with great men of his dreams, life went from good to bad, worse to better for him but he never gave up. He worked on the Sistine Chapel for four tough years. Sitting all alone in the workshop he loved to look at other art works around him until one day he set his eyes steadfastly with a straight light into an amorphous marble, he saw an Angel in it and was stirred to free the angel trapped in the stone. Michelangelo quickly got his carving tools and started carving the stone. He began by knocking off large portions of undesirable stone with a chisel, he then split the stone to get rid of large detrimental chunks, he set the Chisel at a point then swung the mallet at it with a controlled stroke. He was very careful because the slightest inaccuracy could damage the stone. After that he used other tools to refine the figure in order to add texture to the figure he wanted to achieve, then he used rasps and rifflers to improve the shape Into its final form. Finally, he polished the figure with a sandpaper to get the angel he saw in the marble. While he was old aged 63 Michelangelo worked on the “last judgment” for four and an half years, his strength and effectiveness astonished people, he carved a beautiful person out of marble. He is the renaissance master.

Carving out the Angel in the Marble

Life is as tough as a stone, only the tough man can beat it. One’s toughness determines one’s life easiness, but who is a tough man? A tough man is one who has a dream and pursues it until that dream is achieved no matter the obstacles faced, he won’t give up his dream because he believes in it. People like Late Martin Luther King JR who fought selflessly for the freedom of the blacks in America died fighting for something beautiful. He got a Vision and he never relented although he wasn’t so rich to achieve all his goals. Barrack Hussein Obama is a benefactor of late. Martin Luther King JR, now all of America is beginning to see blacks as white, he grieved for something lovely. Mahatma Gandhi who is considered father of the Indian Independent movement, an anti-war activist who despite the inferiority felt towards India rose his away from grass to grace. He gave his best for something worth it, late. Nelson Mandela who was imprisoned for fighting against apartheid left a tone of love in the World because he believed in his vision of a free apartheid nation, he suffered for something beautiful.

We should sit down and look deep within ourselves, surely there is something beautiful around us every time in everything that seems ugly one can fight for beauty, we are beautiful people we ought to do beautiful things not kill ourselves, harm our brother, steal from our neighbor, embezzle our money, we don’t need all these all we need is to see an angel in ourselves and then in others.

Michelangelo despite obstacles did not give up then why should you? You can also make a difference as success is the most beautiful thing in life, just like a carver needs different tools to have a wonderful figure. A little miscalculation might spoil the whole work. Life is the same way because you need a vision to remain focused, persistence to continue, courage to never give up, hope to never relent, humility to never fall and above all you need God to show you the right path.

We are all born with something beautiful but many people die without letting the World see the beauty they have inside, they refuse to unleash the hidden beauty in them. Together we can make a better World by letting out the beauty in ourselves and let those who don’t see it find it. All God’s creatures are beautiful; it’s time we carve a beautiful future out of today.