Thursday 18 February 2021

Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Date unknown

I picked up a Toronto newspaper last night. On the financial page I saw a picture of an old Navy buddy of mine. I'll call him Henry Jones. He had his picture in the paper because he has just been made president of a very large international company. It figures. Henry Jones knew what he wanted and was prepared to pay for it. I remember one Sunday afternoon we were walking through an orchard just outside of Annapolic Royal. Henry saw the most beautiful apple you can imagine right at the top of the tree. "That's for me" he said and he proceeded to climb up the tree. We tried to dissuade him as the branches didn't look strong enough to hold him and that special apple was a long way up. No sir. Up he went after his apple. The rest of us picked up a few fair looking culls that had fallen to the ground and lay under the tree to watch Henry. It took him 15 minutes to get to the apple of his eye and just as he grabbed it, the branch broke and down came Henry. He seem to hit every branch on the way down and tore a large hole in his uniform. He laying motionless on the ground with the wind knocked out of him. When he finally tried to stand up he found that he had broken his leg. I asked him, "what is it worth it?" He bit into that big red beautiful juicy apple and send, "you bet it was worth it. I wanted it. I've got it." Henry tackled everything that way. If he wanted something bad enough, he went after it and never cried when it came time to pay the piper. Too bad there are not more of us in this world like that. True, we want a lot, but we are seldom willing to pay the price. Like I say, it is no wonder this man reached the top. He wanted it. He got it. I don't know what it has cost him in terms of hard work, long hours, study, worry and disappointment but I do know he paid the price without a murmur.

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