• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
 Dear Scott and Betsy,
Gasoline was cheap when I was a boy so Sunday entertainment was often a ride in thecar. Our family, and maybe a friend or two, scrambled into our old red station wagon andwondered where dad’s tour would take us. Sometimes we rode through wealthyneighborhoods to admire large homes and fine landscaping. Sometimes we roamed aboutthe Indiana countryside and bought fresh vegetables from roadside stands. As a specialtreat, we took the ferry across the river to Kentucky.Much happened on those rides. My father enjoyed telling us about his childhoodand local history. My mother liked to lead us in singing her favorite songs. And both parents took advantage of a captive audience to make family plans, settle differences, andteach us. The scenery and the conversation prompted countless questions from thechildren. I recall questions like "Why are some businesses called company and somecalled corporation?" "How are mirrors made?" "Who was Babe Ruth?"I especially remember one of those Sunday rides. We drove to a park located highon a hill to watch the sun set against the city's skyline. Back then, one building toweredover the others and I wondered aloud how tall it was. "That's the Carew Tower and it'sover 500 feet tall" said dad with absentminded ease. He then added the Empire StateBuilding was the world's tallest building. I'll always remember marveling at hisknowledge and musing how adults come to know so much about so many things. Now that I'm a father I look forward to teaching you about sports, gardening, homerepairs, photography, computers and all kinds of things I've absorbed over the years. Mostof all, I want to pass along to you what I've learned about the art of living.I don't know the secret of happiness, of course, and there's nothing here that hasn't been said before. But it helps to be reminded of things we already "know" on one level or another. I hope these essays help all of us make the most of our trip through life.
1
 
Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2Commitment.....................................................................................................................................3Expectations....................................................................................................................................4Flowing.............................................................................................................................................6Getting Things Done........................................................................................................................8Mindfulness...................................................................................................................................10Money.............................................................................................................................................11More...............................................................................................................................................13Now...............................................................................................................................................15Peer Pressure..................................................................................................................................17Perfect Moments............................................................................................................................18Perhaps...........................................................................................................................................20Personal Growth.............................................................................................................................21Praise..............................................................................................................................................21Regrets..........................................................................................................................................23Sacrifice..........................................................................................................................................24Self-Talk.........................................................................................................................................24Seriousness.....................................................................................................................................25Time................................................................................................................................................27Vocation.........................................................................................................................................28Work...............................................................................................................................................30
2
 
Commitment
 Dear Scott and Betsy,
 Neal and I haven’t worked together for 15 years but we stay in touch by telephone. I cancount on getting a call from him around the first of August. We chat for awhile buteventually he steers the conversation to the real reason for his call - tomatoes.You see, Neal and I both savor home-grown tomatoes. Even our winter conversations include discussions about the kind we'll plant in the spring. By mid-summer, Neal tells me he once again has a bumper crop. Even though he eats one everyday and makes tomato juice and ketchup, he still has lots to give away. I, on the other hand, end up buying tomatoes from roadside markets.For the first few years of our unspoken rivalry I assumed he had a secret to hissuccess. So every spring, I imitated some aspect of his approach but never to any avail.This year I think I finally caught on. Neal consistently tends his garden week in and week out. I don't. Sure, early on I expend generous amounts of time and energy but eventuallymy efforts become erratic. The garden goes too long between weeding and watering andother kinds of attention. Neal gets the tomatoes. I don't.When Neal puts the small plants in the ground in the spring he knows they willrequire attention to flourish. He commits himself, perhaps unconsciously after all theseyears of gardening, to the tasks that lay ahead. Later, when he needs to weed, he mustersthe discipline to do it. When it is time to fertilize or water, he will forgo more pleasantactivities to get the job done. Neal's secret is no secret at all. It is commitment.If you're going to begin college, get married, start a business, or begin a career, oneof the first steps is to find out how much work and sacrifice will be required for success.If the rewards are worth the effort, make the commitment. Visualize the difficulties thenvisualize yourself working through them. See yourself discouraged, then see yourself  persevering.Occasionally a garden may bear fruit on its own, but it is work that does the trick most of the time. To succeed at anything - music, writing, business, gardening - we mustcommit ourselves to the task. We fool ourselves and waste our time by assuming we cansucceed with only half-hearted attempts.
3
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...