Row

Anyone who has been reading this column for the past thirteen years must have picked up on the fact that I love inspirational quotes. I especially love the ones that have layered meanings that compel you to stop and ponder on the wisdom imbedded. I am so in love with quotes that I have several small books strategically sitting out in my home for anyone to flip through and perhaps discover a nugget of truth or enlightenment.

I even have quotes on my kitchen walls, sage words of insight such as, "Countless number of people have eaten in this kitchen and gone on to lead normal lives," and "Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up." The one over the back door says, "When there is no wind, row." This six-word suggestion speaks volumes to me. I chose it because it reminds me to refresh my attitude every time I open the door to walk out into the world. It tells me to remember what the real goal is, in this life. It doesn't mention sitting and blaming the weatherman because there isn't any wind. It doesn't say to sit and whine about rotten luck and the injustice and unequal divisions of wealth that allows for some to crank up their inboard motors and cruise past others stranded in their little motorless dingies. It simply says "row." This is one of those wonderfully aforementioned layered quotes too, because it also says something else. It says, do whatever it takes to get the job done. Granted this is somewhat obvious, but it opens the door to other less evident considerations as well.

Stripped down to our essence, humans are needy creatures, but our most important requirements are less about material things and far more about the spiritual. However, this commercially underwritten society that we live in has coerced us into thinking we "need" certain creature comforts and we have to have any number of gadgets and gizmos, aspiring to lifestyles that project a convoluted definition of success. We have been brainwashed to look to acquisition therapy to soothe us when life crashes in on us; when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. Regardless of the reality that material things do not necessarily equal happiness, we continue on hustling to acquire things so that we might be happy.

This gratuitous, illogical drive to be able to be haves instead of have-nots at any cost has led us down a dangerous path to a sorry dead end. The genuine spiritual need to feel content has been seriously overshadowed by the false satisfaction of mindless material gain. Instead of working to achieve personal best, we work to get stuff. This shallow goal setting has pierced a huge hole in our work ethic. It is a classic domino effect. Without the empowerment of the spiritual reason we work, we are left with nothing but the drudgery of labor. There's an old saying, "it isn’t work unless you don't want to do it," that aptly applies here. Unfortunately, when all we do is work to cover our material wants, our work soon becomes our master and eventually something we hate. Understandably, when we hate our work we don't give it all we've got and the product of our lack-luster effort is mediocre at best.

We've all seen the results of this. The clerk who doesn't care if you are helped. The mechanic who can't be bothered to wipe off his greasy hand-print from your car. The waste collector who prefers to slam your garbage can lid down in the flowerbed instead of the concrete drive. The technician who changes your watch battery but can't take another thirty seconds to reset the time. The check-out clerk who doesn't smile and ignores you or worse complains to another clerk about his/her employer or job all the while forgetting to deduct your coupons.

The list could be longer, but you get the picture. A materialistic culture will complain that those who do what is considered menial jobs are justified in poor and less than poor performance because they have poor wages. But I offer that ANY job is worth doing well because in the end it isn't the job or the pay that matters, it is the way we feel about our own performance that sets us up for the bitterness or contentment we take home with us at the end of the day. Pride in a job well done is it's own reward. How's that for a quote?

Nevertheless, regardless of the majority of slackers who begrudgingly clock in and squander their daily chances to excel, there are quiet heroes who simply do the job at hand, with good spirit and champion attitudes. They go the extra mile, they think out of the box, they anticipate need and ultimately, whether anyone notices or not, they shine. They know who they are and what they are worth. Their souls sparkle and when they cash their below average paychecks, they don't whine.

They row.