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HiPlease help me with the meaning of the portion in bold.This is a part of the passage which I think is about the people who do not take the trodden path I am wondering the portion as any generic meaning .In the hospital, I was thinking about the most exceptional people I’ve known. They were the ones who kept going when others quit; the ones who found ways to do what everyone else thought couldn’t be done. They didn’t just hold down a job or work hard. They were reaching deeper inside and finding something more. They made a greater difference. I don’t believe they would have understood these words - “he held the frame so we both could see the inscription” - “the way I did.”

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

This seems to have no meaning without a lot of context.
Who is 'he'?
Is he holding a framed picture?
Who or what is in the picture?

Clive

Vsuresh · Answer

Hi Clive
Here I give you the whole passage. Please help me if you can.

1. In the hospital, I was thinking about the most exceptional people I’ve known.
They were the ones who kept going when others quit; the ones who found
ways to do what everyone else thought couldn’t be done. They didn’t just hold
down a job or work hard. They were reaching deeper inside and finding
something more. They made a greater difference. I don’t believe they would
have understood these words - “he held the frame so we both could see the
inscription” - “the way I did.”

2. “I remember my parents and other adults in my hometown saying, “Study
hard and work hard but don’t let your dreams get too big. If you do that, you’ll
only be disappointed.’

3. “Learn to fit in and go along,’ they said, ‘that’s what successful people do.’
I got very good at fitting in and going along.” His voice trailed off.

4. “Robert, you’re going to hear the same kinds of things from people around
you. They’re well-intentioned but they’re wrong. What if I hadn’t accepted it?
What if everyday I had questioned yesterday’s definition of my best? What if
I’d listened to my own heart instead of their words? Then I might have kept
looking deeper and giving the world more of the best that was hidden inside
me.”

5. “And if I’d done that,” he said, “more of the best would have come back to
me, and to this family, and to you, Robert. But it won’t,” he said, “because
I didn’t do it.”

6. “So this is my challenge to you-to live these words.” He handed me the frame.
There was no glass in it; I ran my fingertips over the words and felt the brittle
paper. “But grandfather,” I said, not wanting to disappoint him but unsure of
how to accomplish what he was asking me, “maybe when I’m older...”

7. “Age has nothing to do with it. Every day you can learn something more
about who you are and all the potential that’s hidden inside you. Every day
you can choose to become more than you have been. I’m asking you straight
right now.”
8. “But how?”

9. “By looking inside yourself. By testing new possibilities. By searching for
what matters most to you, Robert. Few of us ever do that for ourselves.
Instead, we hold our breath. We look away. We get by or go along. We defend
what we have been. We say, “It’s good enough.” I pray you don’t wake up one
day and say, “I’ve been living my life wrong and now it’s too late to make
it right.”

10. Young as I was, I could still see the pain his regret was causing him, and even then I recognized that the gift he was giving me was as much in honesty as
in the specific words he was so determined for me to hear.

11. “Robert, all of us are mostly unused potential. It’s up to you to become the
most curious person you know and to keep asking yourself, What is my best?
Keep finding more of it every day to give to the world. If you do that, I
promise that more of the best than you can ever imagine - and in many ways
beyond money - will come back to you.”

12. And it has. Despite my struggles and mistakes along the way, I have learned
that there are opportunities, for each of us that exist beneath and beyond
conventional thinking and self imposed limits. What my grandfather realized
too late that he had not done, he challenged me to do. In this book, I pass the
challenge to you.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

The words just seem to have a straightforward and literal meaning.

He was holding a picture frame that had some writing. He held it in a way that we could both read the words.
He said 'I don’t believe they would have understood these words the way I did.”

Clive

Vsuresh · Answer

Thank you, Clive.

Vsuresh · Answer

Hi Clive
I attempted to understand in the passage. Please help me with these questions.
First let me tell me what I understood, in brief:
The boy is advised by his grandfather to be different from others, that is, he says he should not be contented with hard work but try to dig out more and more of his skills, which he says is very much possible if he tries.
He also advises him to turn a dead ear to the people who advise him otherwise.
Please tell me if this is correct.

My doubts: 1.Whom is the boy referring to as 'they' in the first paragraph.
2. What is implied when he says they do not understand the words they he does it?

Clive · Answer

Hi,
I attempted to understand in the passage. Please help me with these questions.
First let me tell me what I understood, in brief:
The boy is advised by his grandfather to be different from others, that is, he says he should not be contented with hard work but try to dig out more and more of his skills, which he says is very much possible if he tries. Yes
He also advises him to turn a dead ear to the people who advise him otherwise. Yes
Please tell me if this is correct.

My doubts: 1.Whom is the boy referring to as 'they' in the first paragraph.
the most exceptional people I’ve known.

2. What is implied when he says they do not understand the words the way he does?
I could comment better if you told me what the inscription said.

A small extra comment.
You mention my doubts.
The word 'doubt' usually suggests that you think something is true or correct, but you are not sure. If you want to use the word 'doubt', you really should tell me what you think may be correct. You haven't done this.
Many people on the Forum misuse the word 'doubt' in this way.

Clive

Vsuresh · Answer

Thank you very much, Clive. I will remember your comment on "my doubt"
Clive, I too don't know what the inscription said. In fact I pasted the whole passage in my previous thread.
That's why I couldn't follow the first paragraph.

(It was an excerpt from The Other 90% by Robert K. Cooper)
I have not looked into the complete work yet. I will do that and come back.

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