Persistence paves the pathway to a productive life. Without it you will never proceed beyond the highway called mediocrity. For the path of the persistent is only for the few, whereas mediocrity highway is traveled by many. But they who travel that way will never reach the mountain top and never experience the exhilaration of standing on top of Mount Vision and Mount Destiny.
However, the road of persistence can at times turn into a track and can even in some places disappear before your very eyes. And it is at that point that you must look up beyond the jungle that lies before you and see your mountain top destination.
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Traversing by plane from the Gold Coast to Adelaide, the land below resembles a patch work quilt of light browns and dark greens that spread in a beautiful pattern all the way to the far horizon.
And as I look at the earth below I am reminded of the eagle. I am so pleased that I have, even through the tough times, sought to gain an eagle’s perspective on life in preference to living a turkey’s scratched out existence.
And even when I have at times felt that I have been literally physically scratching around in the dirt, I have continued to mentally and spiritually see myself as an eagle catching those warm rising currents and have found myself thinking high thoughts rather than low thoughts.
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How does one assess one’s success? Is it by the size of the bank account? Is it by the number of accumulating assets that one has? Is it the level of business growth in the past quarter? Is it the quality of shares, bonds, stocks or even gold that one has been able to acquire?
How is success measured? Is it the strength of relationships, the number of friends, the state of your family? Is it the fact that you can communicate with your son or daughter on a heart to heart level?
Is it that you can part with possessions and give them to others without a thought of loss? Is it the fact that you have time for the small and are unphased by the big? Is it that when tragedy darkens your door that you can respond in a state of peace? Is it that when storms rage you can stand firm as a rock? Is it that no matter how many times you get knocked down, you always get up and go again?
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Ian, my brother in law, you have left this earth and gone to heaven just this past week at the young age of only 50. Alone you were when you died, but we know that you had a welcome party waiting for you and now you reside with a company of people who love you dearly.
Flawed, like all of us. Scarred. Embattled. From the very moment you were born your body continued to come under physical attack time and time again throughout your lifetime. And yet amidst that tragedy there were glorious moments.
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There is one particular aspect of the American way of life that I really enjoy, and that is the fact that it is expected, by those who serve you, that you not only pay them for their service, but that you always add some extra money to the bill in the form of a tip.
Now for those of us who live in Australia, this is not a normal practice.
However, at the end of my trip this time, I needed to spend an hour in the lobby of my hotel as I waited for the shuttle bus, that was booked to take me to the airport. It was then that I noticed the bellman for the first time. He had a great attitude and seemed to make everybody he served laugh. At one point he even did a little jig on the hotel floor. I appreciated that, and I know that the rest of his customers did too.
He was somewhat surprised though as I thrust some dollars into his hand before leaving the hotel foyer. He asked me, ‘What was that for?’ I responded, ‘For making me happy.’ In my books this fellow was not just receiving a tip for having a great attitude. He was TIP-TOP.
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