Since I am still single, I never knew what commitment is all about. It was not until I accepted an offer to coordinate the drafting of the case studies and completing initial editing of the book, In Search of Excellence:
Exemplary Forest Management in Asia and the Pacific Region, for the regional office of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization based in Bangkok, Thailand.
Of the four editors of the book, I was the only from the Philippines. Patrick B. Durst, who headed the team, is an American. Chris Brown is from New Zealand while the only female part of the editorial board is Japanese (Miyuki Ishikawa).
When I accepted the chance to an editorial consultant of the book, I never knew that it would take so much of my time from my work. I had to fly all the way from Davao to Manila and then to Bangkok to discuss how the outline of the book and related matters.
I was given all the papers, studied them and provided thematic direction for the case studies. I had also to work with all the authors, most of them with PhD’s. Durst, who is the senior forestry officer with FAO’s regional office, wanted the book to be written in layman’s language. It won’t be a technical book, he told me.
Most of the authors never had an idea how journalists work. I had to explain to them what I needed, how they would write the case, the people they had to interview (based on the original manuscripts given to me), and the pictures to be included in the book.
At first the authors were flabbergasted by my demands. But after several times of sending electronic mails back and forth and talking over the phone, we managed to straighten out everything.
In fact, some of them wrote me and shared that they learned something from the way I edited their papers. “Now, I know how a journalist works,” one said.
Although there was a time that I wanted to quit, I had to persevere. I had told myself that I will finish what I had started. And it paid off.
The book became one of the most requested materials from the FAO office. It was such a hit that a Chinese translation was done.
To some people, commitment serves no purpose in life. As long as they can perform the task given to me, it was enough for them. But successful people know the importance of commitment.
Ed McElroy of USAir has this to say: “Commitment gives us new power. No matter what comes to us – sickness, poverty, or disaster – we never turn our eye from the goal.”
Commitment means something different to each person. To a solider, it means going over the hill, not knowing what’s waiting on the other side. To a marathoner, commitment is running another ten kilometers when his strength is already gone.
According to Dr. John C. Maxwell, of the world’s successful book authors from the United States, there are four types of people when it comes to commitment. These are cop-outs, holdouts, dropouts, and all-outs.
Cop-outs are those who have no goals and therefore don’t commit. Holdouts are people who don’t know if they reach their goals, and so they’re afraid to commit.
Dropouts are those who start toward a goal but quit when the going gets rough. The all-outs are people who set goals, commit to them, and pay the price to reach them.
Dr. Jonas Salk, noted for developing a polio vaccine, knows what commitment is all about. He has tested influenza serums on himself.
He and his staff at the Immune Response Corporation worked to develop an AIDS vaccine. Salk once contended that when it was ready for human testing, “action speaks louder than words,” and that he would be one of the first to try it.
Elithu Thomson, an electrical engineer second only to Thomas Alva Edison in number of patents held, was also a pioneer in the field of radiology. Before the dangers of X rays were fully understood, workers were being burned by radiation.
In 1896, using two of his fingers, he discovered that lead shields stopped the rays but aluminum did not. The experiments left his fingers stiff and scarred.
Are you just a mere dreamer or a doer? Dreaming is good but you have to work in order for you to reach the goal.
“He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times,” playwright Johann von Schiller reminds.
There are people who are committed to surpass what they have done or what others have accomplished. At 92, Paul Spangler completed his fourteenth marathon. At 91, he swam 1,500 meters in 52 minutes, 41.53 seconds to set a world record for the over-90 age group.
At 91, Hulda Crooks climbed Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the continental United States. At 87, mystery writer Phyllis Whitney published her seventy-first book, The Singing Stones.
“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too,” William H. Murray once pointed out.
“All sort of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way.”
But whether a man would commit to a certain work or idea boils down to choices. In Choices, Frederic F. Flach reiterates: “Most people look back over the years and identify a time and place at which their lives changed significantly.
Whether by accident or design, these are the moments when, because of a readiness within us and a collaboration with events occurring around us, we are forced to seriously reappraise ourselves and the conditions under which we live and to make certain choices that will affect the rest of our lives.”
In other words, anytime you make choices – and as long as these are based on solid life values – then you are in a better position to sustain your level of commitment.
For comments, write me at henrytacio@gmail.com
