I’m a little dissapointed to see the guy being admired. Life isn’t is a race, nor is it a test. It is merely a journey, like one you would take in a rowboat between two islands. You prepare your provisions, get in shape, have a plan and then set off for the other island. You conserve food and water along the way and make sure to log enough miles each day. If you eat all your food and drink all your water before you are half way, you wont make it. If you basque in the sun all day, you’ll never make it. But if you stick to the plan and the destination island is in sight, you can row easier and admire the view. You can re-evaluate your food and water and quench your thirst a little more as you are close. When you hit the shore, you can stop rowing, head to town and head to the nearest bar.
The guy in the story hit shore years ago, yet he still sits in the boat and rows, he still only gives himself but sips of water. That’s where he deserves pity, he was so focused on rowing he lost sight of the big picture. He now thinks the rowing is his purpose instead of rowing being a method to acheive the goal of reaching his destination.
I know and knew many people from the WWII and depression generation, I am a product of their wisdom in many ways. For some reason I learned something completely different from them than some of you. I did not learn that you work until the day of your death, I did not learn that you get to take it all with you. What I learned is that you take care of all your obligations first, then you relax and do things that may not bring you wealth but bring you happiness. The WWII and depression people that I admired, worked hard, saved, paid their way but they also borrowed for the right reasons (education, houses, prudent investments) and when their kids were grown up and their houses paid off, they bought motorhomes or traveled. They drank wine and played golf. They spent their time with charitible social clubs (masons, shriners, lyons, vfw, etc.) making sure to give back but have fun at the same time. They “lied, cheat and stole” but in the way that is rightous, “lying with the one you love, cheated death, and stole time to be with family.” They were not working unless it was for their social group or the charity they believed in, because they earned it. They bought fancy cars and pissed some of their inheritence away because they finally could. My idol, who worked his whole life and still volunteered daily until he was well past 90, bought himself a convertible t-bird, probably because he went without it when he had obligations as a younger man. He stopped rowing, he taught others to row for free for many years and he also did a few things for himself. He imparted wisdom on younguns like myself because it made him happy.
I’m just like all of you in some ways, frugal in my current plans, but at some point you have to say “I did it, I’m good, I’m ordering the good wine and buying the car I always wanted.” I’m fairly close, about ten years left on the current plan and then I will not have to worry about money for the rest of my life. The hard facts are that I’ll be without debt, I’ll own my house, I’ll be low to mid 50’s and I will have income in perpituity more than what I live on today with half the expenses and none of the obligations. But I’ll have but a fraction of what the man in the story has. And if you catch me in an office, scrutinizing expense reports, punch me in the face, because I will need it. I hope I won’t even know what an oar looks like by then, I’ll never row again because I already did that. It’s great that people earn like a prince and live like a pauper, but when enough is enough and they are within sight of shore, will they have the ability to enjoy the spoils? I hope so. I know I will.
