Fifteen neatly-dressed employees hang their aprons, and punch their cards. With no more than a backward glance at the showroom, the smiling workers file out the front door of the shop, the last one flipping the "Open" sign to "Closed".
The bus ride home is spent thinking about the warm dinner that awaits them. Trees and traffic signals pass quickly in a hazy blur. Some doze peacefully, while others engage in small talk about the upcoming holiday break.
They worked diligently and with integrity, and each looks forward to a good night's rest and tomorrow's payroll.
Back at the shop, a lone figure is seen skimming over the accounts, bills and sales records. Squinting at the ledger, he pens-in today's figures and stretches back, smiling, clearly enjoying the trend that clearly indicates an uptick in sales.
Then, as if struck by lightening, the lone figure shoots up and scrutinizes a previously unnoticed red line. The red line stretches across one of the larger sales... And what's this sticking out from under the pile of receipts?... A larger-than-expected tax bill?
As the midnight oil burns, the owner of the store pores over each line, reconciling records, double-checking purchase orders, and triple-checking the thick, worn ledger before him. He can not go home yet. There is much to consider and reconcile before he can retire for the night.
The fifteen content employees are fast asleep, but their employer, worn from hours of record-checking and rechecking, does not think of sleep. Closing up shop for the night is not an option. Not until he is comfortable that the accounts are in order. Not until he pens his ideas and strategies on how tomorrow will be a better day.
***
Who cares?
Certainly, the employee wants the business to be successful. But his interest and investment in its success is limited to the work-hours which he clocks-in, day in and day out. As long as he gets his check, he is happy. As long as the business survives, he is content.
But for the owner, it is not enough to survive, the business has to thrive!
When the business flourishes, he is alive, and spends his energy capitalizing on the success and growing it. If business is slow, his entire being takes a toll. The heat of the sweat on his brow is matched only by his burning desire to plow through the challenges, overcome the obstacles, and commandeer his business out of the clouds and into the sunshine.
***
In The World showroom, too, there are employees, and owners.
There are people who clock-in and clock-out, partake in the world's goodness, and are content with surviving in it, enjoying a life that involves no further effort or responsibility.
Then there are people who do not have business hours. Their entire lives revolve around the business of transforming the world, and anything less than absolute success, is a personal concern. For these people, there is no rest until the world is completely transformed.
These people, true owners, live and breathe their "business", and do not rest until they are certain that they have a plan for a better Tomorrow.
Which one am I?
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