Message of the Day - Be A Hero With Discipline

Good Morning,

 

On Sunday my wife Karen handed me an article to read in the January 2009 issue of National Geographic. The article was about the Expedition of Fridtjof Nansen from Norway, who in the late 1800’s made several Arctic explorations. He was both an explorer and a scientist, being said to be just as skilled with microscope as with a ice ax and skis.

 

He gained fame from his traversing Greenland in 1888, where he missed his boat back to Norway and stayed with the Greenlanders for a spell. Nansen then planned a trip to reach the North Pole in 1893 with a well built boat, the Fram (meaning ‘Forward’). Incidentally this is the same boat used by Roald Amundsen in his historic trek to the South Pole. The goal was to have the boat locked in ice and float close to the Arctic where he and his team would go the rest of the way by sled, kayak and skis.

 

During Nansen’s expedition, his ship did not get near enough to the arctic so he set out with another man, Hjalmar Johansen, by sled with many dogs, some kayaks and skis. They trekked for months and got closer to the North Pole than anyone else in history at that time.

 

Here is the interesting part. Knowing that he was close, but knowing the status of his supplies, equipment and his promise to his wife to come back alive, he turned away from his goal and headed home. That trek home took over six months. After coming back Nansen and Johansen were treated like heroes. When the fervor for polar expeditions heightened even more, he again chose discretion over valor and went into other fields of study and passed the baton to the likes of Peary, Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen. He worked in the League of Nations, became Norway’s first Ambassador to the United Kingdom and went on to win a Nobel Peace Prize for his work after World War One for helping repatriate prisoners of war.

 

None his accomplishments in oceanography, meteorology and diplomacy would have happened if he did not show discipline and turn away from reaching the North Pole when he knew it would be best to stop. He would have certainly died in the Arctic, another lost explorer if he pressed on. That is a very powerful force of will and character.

 

Many people cannot, or worse, will not make those same decisions when they need to. They see the glory, the windfall from pushing onward against all good reason and safety and turn a blind eye to reason.

 

One of the reasons Karen shared this article with me was because while attempting to fix the bathroom sink pipes, I ran into a series of problems. Each problem I fixed brought out another issue. I looked over the situation and then said, ‘Honey, I think we need a plumber to help fix this’. I looked at the issue and realized that if I kept pushing forward, I would be possibly tear up the wall, the counter and who knows what else. Instead of trying to prove my manliness by fixing the pipes, I chose to admit it was beyond me and we had a plumber take care of it. She was proud that I was able to make that decision and chose discretion over pride (not to mention making a huge costlier mess in the bathroom).

 

I am no Fridtjof Nansen by any stretch of the imagination, but I was able to be like him because I stopped and re-thought my options and chose to stop. This is a great lesson for everyone. Knowing when to stop is a tough choice. Folks often push forward without thinking. Others try to cover their fear of being found out that they don’t actually know what they are doing. Whatever the reasons, knowing when to stop and choose another option is of vital importance in our lives.

 

I look forward to learning more about Fridtjof Nansen and his great discipline.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

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