by Val Ensalaco, IWPA President
Acres of Diamonds
by Val Ensalaco, IWPA President
Perhaps you've heard the story. It's one of Earl Nightingale's favorite accounts. . .and I think of it often.
Is the name Russell Herman Conwell familiar to you? Maybe not. . .he was born in 1843. He worked hard to earn a law degree, become a newspaper editor and later a clergyman. Dr. Conwell raised millions of dollars during his lifetime by lecturing all over the country. More than 6,000 lectures, in fact.
With the money he received, he founded Temple University with the purpose in mind of providing a place where the poor could get a quality education. At each of his lectures, he spoke of Acres of Diamonds. A true story, it goes like this:
An African farmer grew more weary day after day of working his land as rumors reached him of other farmers who had made millions by finding diamond mines. He sold his farm and for the rest of his life, he traveled the African continent in search of diamonds. He found none. Depressed and miserable, he gave up his life by drowning himself.
Crossing a small stream, the man who bought the farmer's property spied a shiny rock lying on the bottom of the water. The prism-like reflections caught his eye. He thought the stone was a crystal and he took it to his home and placed it on the mantel. He liked looking at it.
Time passed and a visitor saw the beautiful stone and was awestruck. "Do you know what you've found?" the visitor excitedly asked. This was one of the largest diamonds ever found in Africa. The creek bottom was full of similar stones, perhaps smaller in size, but equally as brilliant.
The first farmer had owned the largest diamond in all of Africa, but sold them for pennies on the dollar to look for diamonds in other places.
Earl Nightingale concludes. . ."The moral is clear: If only the first farmer had taken the time to study and prepare himself--to learn what diamonds looked like in their rough state--and, since he had already owned a piece of the African continent, to thoroughly explore the property he had before looking elsewhere, all of his wildest dreams would have come true.
"The thing about this story that so profoundly affected Dr. Conwell and, subsequently, millions of others, was the idea that each of us is, at this moment, standing in the middle of his or her own acres of diamonds."
Mr. Nightingale suggests that fortunate are those of us with the wisdom and patience to intelligently and effectively explore the work in which we are now engaged and to explore ourselves. We'll usually find the riches we seek, whether they be financial or intangible or both.
Before we go running off to what we think are greener pastures, let's be sure they're really greener. Nightingale says that often when someone else's pasture looks greener, it may be getting better care. And while we're checking out someone else's pasture, someone may be checking out ours.
Whatever your aim in life may be, perhaps it can be found in exactly what you're doing now. We invite you to explore the work you are doing as well as evaluate yourself.
IWPA can be your acres of diamonds. Membership provides opportunities to learn from seasoned professionals and to be part of a national organization, the National Federation of Press Women. Membership directories not only help connect you with other Illinois communications people, but across the nation as well. PenPoints, our newsletter, is often saved by our readers because of its important content.
In your IWPA acres of diamonds, you will receive job leads that might even provide a turn in your career path. We value our partnership with other organizations and consider it a membership benefit when we pass their information on to you. Within our directory you will find mentors to answer questions and to help you through specific situations. There are also members who are new-to-the-field who may pick up the phone and ask you for help. Mentoring is often a two-way street to learning.
To be an "award winning" communicator, enter the IWPA contest and if you earn a first place, your entry will go to the national contest.
And, please, don't forget that IWPA can be an avenue for you to share your skills and information Consider writing articles or a regular column for PenPoints. Are you a professional presenter or do you know someone who would provide a quality, timely, pertinent program at one of our five luncheon meetings?
The IWPA board is concerned about succession planning and would like co-chairs and/or assistants to work with us this year not only to help us get the work done, but to prepare you for a leadership role next year or the year after.
Lastly, you are IWPA's best source for recruiting new members. Please invite a "communicator" or two to join you at our next meeting--in fact, at every meeting. Our members are diverse and we seek to expand that diversity. For as much as we differ in our acres of diamonds, we also have much in common and needn't seek greener pastures.
Gosh, I can't tell you how often the acres of diamonds story has helped me find simple solutions. lucky me. There are many diamonds in my life. They're all around me and probably around you, too.