Page 141 - How We Lead Matters

Let me say immediately that I am not against goals. On the contrary, they are
very important milestones along the way. Nevertheless, few of us can ever be
sure of our destination. I’m simply recommending that we go about our lives
with a purpose. That we do not forget to value this moment today. If only we
would look on today not only in the context of our journey but as an end unto
itself.

Everyone in this room should live and love each day—the bad ones as well as
the good. If each day we would give a friend a hug or not be so quick to judge
someone we don’t know and if we could all forgive just a little bit easier. Today
is so valuable it should be lived and loved and enjoyed. So many of our great
authors and poets have tried to tell us this.

First comes to mind Thornton Wilder in “Our Town.” In the final act Emily,
who has died, is allowed to come back for one day of her life. The stage man-
ager tells her to pick an ordinary day. He knows that ordinary days are sweet
and painful if you can no longer experience them. Emily picks her twelfth birth-
day. Emily shouts out in despair, “Mother, look at me, really look at me! Does
anyone really live life every, every minute of it?”

You know, it’s funny. I don’t remember if I really looked at my mother this
morning. I don’t know when I’ve told her I love her. Or when I’ve told my
friends how much they mean to me. There’s always another day. Or is there?

Life is always fragile. What if . . . just what if something happened to you
today? What would trouble you the most . . . an abrupt ending? Unfinished
studies? Unplayed games? Unperformed dramas? No . . . I’m willing to bet it
would be unsaid words, incomplete relationships and unfulfilled promises. The
poet Cavafy once said:

When you start on your journey to Ithaca,
Then pray that the road is long,
Full of adventure, full of knowledge . . .
That the summer mornings are many,

124 How We Lead Matters: Reflections on a Life of Leadership