A Man on a Mission...

I had just finished mowing...which was always a challenge in my yard...not because it was a difficult yard to mow...but because the mower always provided a mechanical challenge! Sometimes the starting rope broke...or the "carb" stuck...or a wheel fell off or...

I could mow the yard, in less than an hour, if everything went well...but it usually took 2 to 3 hours...to fix the mower and keep it running long enough to finish. I always breathed a triumphant sigh when I was done!

I never rued the lawn mowing task...even though I threatened the machine EVERY WEEKEND with replacement. It ignored my threats, because I think it knew that I liked the challenges that it provided to me! In between it use...it thought up new challenges for me...which I always creatively overcame!

Enough of that for now...

I was standing and surveying my accomplishment and smelling the fast fading aromas of the freshly cut greenery, when his car pulled into my driveway and jerked to a stop. He crawled from the sagging seat and walked up to me, with a HUGE weekend smile!

"The lawn looks great...as always!" he noted, "When are you going to replace that mower of yours?" "It will give us a lot more time to do the things we love...if you did!"

"When are you going to replace that car?" I responded...

"I'll replace that car...when the cost of using it is more than the value I get...what about you?" He replied..."I didn't drive over here to argue about our machines...do you want to go fishing?"

A passion for "fishing" was one of the things we had in common. Although he grew up dragging or casting nets in the sea, and I learned to fish on inland freshwater lakes...our fishing paths converged and we shared this sport as often as time allowed...we enjoyed the challenge and eating a meager amount of our catch each time we went out...and we enjoyed our talks too!

It gave him time to mentor me and I him...the mentoring sessions had evolved into that...it was no longer uni-directional...but we found that we both had things we could share with each other...he knew that long before I did...

"I should have known that you wanted to go fishing." I smiled. "You always wear those shoes when you want to fish!"

"I always wear these shoes on the weekend!" he scolded, "They are my weekend shoes!"

"GOTCHA!" I said. He looked at me as if I didn't make any sense...and perhaps I didn't...so I explained..."Therefore...every weekend, you want to fish!"

In a way that was true!

We fished at every opportunity.

Sometimes after work...we'd meet at a favorite place and build a fire and listen to "a ballgame" on his scratchy battery powered A.M. radio, until the "Star Spangled Banner" played and the announcer bid us "a good night and a good morning..."

We caught a ton of fish together, but never kept the fish at either end of "the bell curve." If you want a healthy population, don't take the small ones or the big ones. There are too few of them. Take only the ones in the middle of the curve...they are the most common.

So, when we fished, we would catch a few fish and figure out what an average fish was...then return any fish that was not within a certain range of our calculated average! It was a fun way to keep us sharp on statistics!

We ate well! Many times right there on the shore! Today...I was craving fish...so I hoped that our little excursion would pay off! I really had no doubt that it would...he always did his homework and knew where the fish were biting...and exactly what bait to use...he had high-level friends at the bait shops and they told him everything!

If we went fishing, I knew I had to put up with his stories about casting nets...and Mediterranean storms and how it was sometimes the only thing they had to eat! But that was a small price to pay for his friendship!

I would return the favor by repeating the few great stories I had...and he obliged me too!

It was a tradition...and an essential part of a good fishing excursion...

I looked at him and could see in his eyes that he was craving fish too! He was on a "fish'in mission..."

He had the clearest eyes of anyone that I knew! When one says that the eyes are the mirrors of the soul...his were windows...

Although they were sometimes bloodshot from late night fishing or too much rum...they always looked the same! They had intent...but not piercing intent...they were eyes set on his real mission...they told his entire story...

When he looked at you, they conveyed a feeling similar to the looks you see, in the eyes of people at an animal shelter. It was a blend of sympathy and a desire. A drive to adopt you and save you from your plight...but there was a sadness in them. That sadness came, when you combined the previous feelings with a realization that he had...that there is nothing that he can really do...

That look NEVER changed...ever! He had his mission and he held to it...

Although I was wringing wet, from almost an hour of trying to start the mower and smelled of the gas, that had sprayed on me, on numerous occasions...I escorted him into the garage and grabbed my equipment...

"My car or yours?" I asked.

"Mine," he replied, "Your driving makes me nervous."

"So does yours" I countered, "You drive like an old person...we waste valuable fishing time driving at your rate!"

"You waste valuable fishing time with your obstinate devotion to that mower" "Let's compromise...We'll take my car and you can drive...just don't move the seat!" he demanded!

I was up for most of his compromise...except for the seat part! His legs seemed like they were half the length of mine...which was not true...he just liked sitting on top of the steering wheel...I like sitting back."

In no time, we were at one of our favorite "Secret Spots." It wasn't as crowded as usual and we set up our lawn chairs in the shade of a tree.

He reached into his bag and pulled out his radio and asked, "What channel?"

I replied with the station that we listened to, for all these years...and in our tradition he replied, "Good...that is the only one this electronic "marvel" can get! I have to get a new one someday...I just hate replacing something that has served me so well!"

Within about 15 minutes, we had caught and released the daily limit and calculated the mean size and confirmed that the average size was the "keep size" that also was allowed by the fishing regulations. Now the real fishing could begin! But that also meant that I would "fish" into his thoughts and he into mine!

"Have you ever thought about the fact that everyone is on a mission?"

"On second thought...that everyone has a mission...but most do not realize it?" he reflected.

Just then our discussion was interrupted by a man and a horde of children, who stumbled up to us, dropped an arm load of chairs and tangled poles and tackle. Then, he began setting up right next to us.

"Catching anything? he asked, "What'cha use'in?"

"50mm shiners" came the reply...AND without losing a beat or taking a breath, he asked "What is your mission in life?"

The man looked at him as if we were aliens and replied "Millimeters? Missions? ...I ain't got no mission...are you some kind of religious freaks?"..."You foreigners come over here with your weird rulers and ideas...and think you can tell us what to do!" You wear those fancy shoes and think you are better than us...MISSION...What the &#$&!!! do you think I am some kind of spy? And you...you smell like a ^%#$$!!! gas station! You guys sit there trying to trick us Americans by listening to baseball and making you think you are our friends...and then you start spouting off this religious stuff about missions and millimeters...and try to brainwash us!

...AND with that...

He quickly gathered his stuff up and herded his children down the river...well out of sight.

I sat in my lawn chair is silence and utter disbelief! I wish I could have seen my face!

"Now there is a great example of what I was talking about!" he smiled. "People avoid the concept of a personal mission...to the point of defensiveness and aggression...yet everyone has a mission...they just can't tell you what it is and they can not admit that they haven't ever thought of it."

"But in that guy...I think we have found someone who shouldn't have a mission!" he laughed. That comment succeeded in taking my mouth from wide open to a smile!

At this point in the conversation I was hoping that he wouldn't ask me to specifically recite my mission...because from my perspective...it was still in the making...

"Although, my mission is clear to me...it is always in the making..." he continued.

I breathed a sigh of relief!

"BUT...I can specifically tell you what it is, at this moment...with the provision that at any moment, I may discover something that adds to or changes it slightly..."

"Everyone should dedicate time to clarifying their mission...and have it written out...physically writing it out is almost as important as having one!"

"If you can not spell out your mission...you are trying to go on a trip without directions and will travel aimlessly through life...and if it is not written out...it is like taking that trip by memorizing the map."

"When I think about how to create personal missions...you have it down to a science...but...for organizations..."

"What you teach to organizations, is exactly what individuals should be doing..." "The WHAT? and the HOW?"

"It is like..."

"I am traveling to New York City, with my car..."

"That is a good specific mission!"

"It says what I am doing and how or the means by which, I am going to achieve it!"

"Then for me to say that I am making companies better is insufficient?" I asked.

"You got one" he exclaimed!

"The mission...or...the concept..?" I asked

"No...a bite!" he laughed!

I reeled in the fish and he netted it...

"No matter where in the world, I fish...I seem to always go back to my roots..." he observed as he gazed at the landing net.

"It may be the same with a mission..."

"Your mission in life has always been there...you simply have to discover it..." "Discovery does not change your mission...it only clarifies it!"

"In fact, many people recognize your mission before you do!" "They can see it in you before you do!"

"That is why a mission should never be contemplated alone..."

"You should get as much feedback and opinions about your mission as you can possibly stand!"
"It is like an outsiders view of one's vehicle or mower..."

"You get attached and comfortable to what you have and that really skews reality!"

"Outsiders can give you an unbiased view."

At that moment his rod bent and he struggled to land a monster fish!

"WOW!" he exclaimed, "That is a definite 99 percentile example...It is a shame to throw it back! It would make a great lunch..."

"Let's fry him up" I hinted...

"Nope...a rule is a rule"

"A mission should never break rules...and they should always be reality checked against the limitations that you have set upon yourself...that is why you need to include the "HOW" in your mission." "If I decided to travel to New York City by plane, would I be fulfilling my mission?"

"When I think about it, in combination with your comments of late...my traveling to New York City, by my car, is probably unrealistic..."

"I look to outsiders (like you) to validate that my mission is possible with the how I intend to achieve it!"

At this point, in the conversation, we had caught enough fish for a great feast!"

He sauntered back to his car and got out his "mobile cooking utensils" and I started a small grill...the aromas were great and the flavor from our frying pan even better!

...then...

We, as quickly as we set up...packed up, and left to fix the HOWs of our at least one part of our missions...

For him that meant a new car and for me...

...a new mower!

We both ended our days with our "Hows" more aligned with our "Whats!"

And he drove to New York City the very next day!