For the past four weeks I have spent Weekends working long hours in the yard. After, as the wife says, neglecting the yard for several years, I am interested and excited in transforming dirt into something beautiful. While laboring away under the hot sun with the assistance of a few fine friends (kids aged 7 and 2), I have reflected on the fun torture that was working with my dad in the yard when I was young.
In particular, I remember one event where my dad had created a raised bed in front of their house. My job was to create a “custom” edging around the mulch bed out of small timbers that he had cut. My job included:
- Digging a small ditch around the bed.
- Soaking the logs in a preservative.
- “Planting” the logs in the ditch.
- Use Bailing wire to tie the logs together.
For this bed that was about 150 square feet I had probably 150 logs to place, but it felt like 1500 trees that I had to debark and chop. I had a process. I understood the objective. I improved the process with scientific efficiency. Yet, I had no “vision” for the end result. I saw one log after another with no concept for the completed project; I invested my sweat to adhere to my paternal directive–and not for the vision of the beautiful work product.
All to often we issue commands to fulfill our own vision without taking the time to “plant” vision in the actors. In turn, they work hard to toil away and placing logs instead of creating beauty. When everyone shares in the vision, they make it beautiful in their own way, and they own their part of the success. Otherwise, it is just quid pro quo–in my story it was “build the edging” for “not getting an ass whoopin’.”
