by Lee Clement posted 02/22/2012 * Caution * Contains no basketball thoughts whatsoever
Sometimes, out of the clear blue sky (ok, it’s usually overcast) my mind heads in a different direction. For a powerpoint presentation to potential clients, we were looking for a “wow” start that grabbed their attention right away. I was supposed to be searching the web for some examples, but got sidetracked by the Declaration of Independence (yes, that 1776 thing that Tom, Ben, and John penned in their spare time).
The Declaration of Independence hits us right away with this powerful sentence. “
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.
There were 2-3 segments of the sentence that had my attention, namely, the mushy thing about truths that are self-evident (hmm, what other truisms could I find and if I had to search for them, are they
really self-evident?) and the part about certain unalienable rights (couldn’t they have just spelled them out to save us some time?). Well, that ruined my day at work. How do you explain to the others that our presentation was going to remain an empty shell until I could make peace with those independent minded Philadelphians from 1776?
The answer didn’t take that long. That night, I met a long-time friend for dinner and drinks. Chalk this up to the difference between women and men, but normally the catching up period for men lasts all of two minutes before the real talk commences on the Brewers, Bucks, Packers, Badgers, etc. This time was different. Strangely different. Perhaps unknowingly stoked by Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams (not the schools), we talked about being happy in our particular stage of the life cycle. Glenn said he is so excited about 2012 to come as he intends to make it “the best single year of his life” (
as an aside, that statement could never be made around your wife without some kind of disclaimer about the marriage year). Not to be outdone, or perhaps it was the liquid courage speaking on my behalf, I echoed his sentiments (but secretly wondered how I would ever top a few of those years between ages 18 and 30).
Unbeknownst to Glenn, he helped me solve the riddle that was keeping me from finishing my work; I really didn’t need a “wow” factor after all. It dawned on me that a key line in the Declaration of Independence was the pursuit of happiness,
regardless of whether you actually attain it or not! That freedom (or liberty, if you will) to choose your path and/or to choose how you look at things is the most satisfying one. The end goal or result is the icing on the cake.
We’ve heard it many times before in various ways; enjoy the journey. The final outcome may or may not be within your full control. Tom Peters wrote the best selling 1980’s business book, “In Search of Excellence” and claimed to know what the best companies of the 21
st century would all look like. The cynical amongst us will ask whether, metaphorically, he was suggesting we skip to the back of the book (yr 2000) and bypass the journey. You know what, at one stage of my life I may have been willing to be an “ends justifies the means” type of guy, but those days are far in my rear view mirror.
For my money, Glenn and I solved all the world’s problems over a bottle of Bordeaux. Alas, solving all of the world’s problems got me home later than planned. You see, we really couldn’t leave without the requisite sports talk, could we? Mrs. Coach says being home on time is now a
pursuit I need to work on.
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