The Pen vs The Sword

Is the Pen mightier that the Sword, or can they co-exist and make each other stronger?

First of all, I want to start out by saying that I am a writer at heart. Once upon a time I published stories for several national racing magazines like "Flat Out", "Open Wheel" and even "National Speed Sport" newspaper. But that was back when people actually read physical things. At the request of a college of mine, (Todd Buffenburger), I started writing a weekly blog as they are called now, which grew as well. During my "The Infield" days of writing, I found that a lot of people read my stories and while there were some that criticized, there were a lot out there who agreed with my points of view. My blog even grew into a column in some areas of the country. Flattering, but it was still only my opinion and that didn't pay the bills.

So moving on, I found myself bouncing from bouncing from Wisconsin to Charlotte, where I was approached to help set up, of all things, a sprint car racing club in the heart of NASCAR. What's more, the driving force behind it was none other than Ray Evernham. Yep, the same one that helped Jeff Gordon get his rise to fame. Unfortunately, the powers that were learned quickly that you cannot run a sprint car race like a NASCAR race so we soon parted company. On to Texas....

So after moving to Texas, I started working for a trucking company again and made a lot of friends as well as met some old friends in the business face-to-face. Still, my writing experiences haunted me as I was eventually asked to assist with a local track in the area facing some financial and PR problems. Too little too late and before I knew it, the track was sold. Besides learning again that one person cannot change the world, I also learned that like it or not, I was getting too old for that type of work, especially for fun!

Working here at Grammer has offered me several opportunities to challenge others to become more than they thought. I am grateful for the ability to be able to help in that way. Since my days as a supervisor in the USAF, my goal has been to challenge others to become more than they expected and over the years, I am glad to say I have had several success stories to that end. It has also enabled me to accomplish the one thing that as a writer, I was not able to say yet, until just recently. Yes - I published a book! While it's not on the best sellers list or anything, being able to say I am a published author now does have a nice ring to it. I guess it make things a little more credible, or at least as credible as a Fantasy/Fiction book can anyway.

So there you have the "Pen" part of my story; now for the sword. I have been identified in a lot of different ways in my professional life. Cold, Uncaring, Strict and just plain asshole. Honestly, I do not even care and here is the reason. I have very high standards that I hold myself to. Because of that, I tend to hold my expectations high for those I work with. It's my nature. Maybe it is my background in the military or as a cop, but there are certain things that you are expected to do in life. A Father is expected to be a father and mentor to his children. Likewise a mother in her way. An employee hired on to a company because they wanted to work for an organization for one reason or another. I don't know of many companies looking for employees to sit around and goof off all day and expect a lot of praise for doing a good job of being lazy.

So here is the "Sword". We all have specific roles to fulfill. While it is nice to enjoy the diversity of various distractions in order to make things more tolerable, we still have responsibilities to others. Family, Employers, Co-workers, you know what I mean. So honor those and do your part in the greater scheme of things to help make the overall picture successful. Be proud of your work because it is one of the few things that others can look at you and judge you by. Take the time to enjoy your hobbies and if you are good at them, take pride in that as well. It is not a crime to be able to look at something and tell yourself, "Yeah - I did that!".

With this all being said, I welcome those reading this to express yourself and examine what it is you do, what goals you have in mind and what you are beholding to others and make your own life as successful as possible. Life itself is a great gift so why waste that gift being negative or lazy? Do something and enjoy it and make those in your life enjoy being around you! It's a great feeling, but you have to want to do it too.

Paul Pittman