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Our Walking Drum
By Justin Storm
Introduction
Do you have a mission? If so, do you know what it is? If you know what it is whatare you doing about it? Does it determine the way you live your everyday life or doyou try to separate your life’s purpose from your day to day actions and pursue itwhen you have time? Has your past unknowingly prepared you for yourforeordained future? Is the present giving you insight, experience, and knowledgenecessary to some future purpose and goal you have been called to fulfill or havedecided you will fulfill? I believe we all have a mission to fulfill in this life. I believewe all have the ability to achieve greatness if we allow ourselves to be guided andled by what Louis L'Amour calls “The Walking Drum”.My most recent novel and introspective experience came through the 1984 Classic
The Walking Drum
. For me, the book was reminiscent of other stories that haveinspired me toward greatness (Braveheart, Cinderella Story, Gladiator, etc.). It isone person’s story of how they overcame defeating odds to achieve greatness inways they did not expect or necessarily want. The book teaches several life lessonsthat deserve much reflection. Of the many, the one I chose to focus on isunderstanding and living our own personal missions.
The Walking Drum – What is it?
In the latter half of the book the main character, Kerbauchard, has joined a caravan. This caravan marches from village to village setting up booths and selling goods. The speed at which they arrive to each location determines the success of their tripsbecause of the competition of other caravans to these cities/villages at certaintimes of year. To help the caravan keep pace and schedule a walking drum isprovided. Each beat of the drum pushes the weary traveler towards their finaldestination. Without the drum the cohesiveness of the group would dissipate andeventual success of the group would not be realized. The drum is what paces theindividual to walk faster than he otherwise would when left to his own volition. The drum’s cadence is the external and/ or internal motivation that pushes ustowards the realization of our goal. Without such motivation the accomplishment of our goals is greatly delayed if realized at all. Allowing such motivation to enter ourlives is a decision that if accepted, requires perpetual attention for the drum tomaintain its beat. External motivation could be money, prestige, power, thechanging of lives, etc. Internal motivations are found in peace, self understanding,hate, love, vision, and other internal workings that motivate us towards action.Ultimately, one must have a clear picture of what he/she wants to achieve for the
 
drum’s cadence to fulfill its purpose. Again, the cadence is our motivation. Themore experiences and exposure we have of the importance of our goal the morelikely we are to work towards its achievement and the louder the beats of the drumbecome. The less we involve ourselves in achieving our goal the more likely thedrums beat slows and its volume a distant echo drowned out by the competinginfluences in our lives.
How do we find it?
How do we know what drum to follow and in what caravan to place our trust. Eachperson put on this earth has a purpose and mission they are to fulfill. This missionis not passively achieved by us cruising through life and “going with the flow”. Amission is a specific task with which a person or a group is charged. A higher powerhas charged us with accomplishing something great but unfortunately many of usfail to recognize what this charge is.We have competing drums in life that have various purposes. The spectrum andpaths of the competing drums are innumerable. Some drums are designed to leadus to pleasure while other drums lead us to greatness and change. The path and journey of pleasure is often paved and possess little to no incline. This path leads tomediocrity and emptiness. The path towards fulfilling our life’s mission is often adifficult one that many see as impossible to achieve. Much adversity lay ahead andonly the truly dedicated and self-defined individuals can overcome the foretoldadversity. The end reward, although unique to each mission, shares the fulfillingcharacteristic of peace and greatness. The drum beat that leads to pleasure isoften an unconscious walk that so many of us are lulled into. The cadence of greatness is a conscious decision that requires our upmost resolve and courage toachieve.Most of us fail to recognize what our mission here on earth is but each one of us, if we take the time and make the required sacrifices, can and will accomplish greatthings through the fulfillment of our missions. They are individualized and specificto us. No mission is identical to another. They are customized to our uniqueabilities, experiences, and background. They are as different as each person isdifferent. Therefore, understanding our individual missions is the first step we takeon this journey. This is likely not going to happen in the course of weeks, months, oreven a year. To define a mission requires a great deal of introspection andinspiration. Much like a funnel our missions are general at first and become morespecific as we live, learn, and revisit the question of our purpose. After muchmeditation, work, and personal analysis we will know enough generalities thattrigger the commencement of our cadence.Once the cadence has been ignited it is up to us, as previously mentioned, to followits beat. The mission then needs to become our passion. It needs to be what wespend our time doing and becoming. We must have balance in our lives but the
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