Bearing Fruits, Part I

As soon as my son read my last blog post, he cried out,"Slander! You humiliated me." He proceeded to "unfriended" me in Facebook, and even blocked my access to his profile. He then went to the Big City the next morning and got a job that day. "Hey Dad, I didn't do it because of you but put that in your blog anyway!", he called later that night.

Growing Recession Young Adults is like growing Grapes.

We live in California Wine country -- the land of the grape. There are parallels with the cultivation of grape and the growing of young adults. Here they are:

1. The raison d' etre of the vine is to bear fruit. What a disappointment and grief to the vinesman is the branch that bears no fruit, that completely fails to fulfil its purpose. Such withered branches are cast off into the fire and burned. Likewise such a waste or tragedy if we lead a life that doesn't contribute.

But don't get me wrong. The fruit is not the job, the salary, the car, or the house. The fruit is the ability to maintain all that and more: Self-perpetuation. Fulfilling your life's purpose or dreams. It's easy to be a fiery comet or a flash in the pan at one time or another. But to deliver meaningful results in a timely fashion is the goal. Here are the fruits (perspectives, paradigms) that have budded recently in my son.

• The value of time and money. "Money sure doesn't grow on trees... I have to work these much hours to get x dollars? Wow, how should I spend my first paycheck?"
• My work ethic. "I pride myself in doing a good job. If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail. Do your job first, everything else will fall in place."
• Teamwork. "We accomplish more when we cooperate creatively. When I think Win-Win, we accomplish more .. and fast."
• Preparation/Application is key. "My learning experiences give me the edge. The better equipped/trained I am, the better the job result."

When one is rooted in the right paradigms and perspectives, one will always have or find a job. That is what makes a person competitive and strategic. Thus, the secret is not to focus on the perks of the job, but on the perspectives that makes one a vital skilled or knowledge worker. A grapevine doesn't produce fruit in order to prove it is a grapevine, but produces fruit because it is a grapevine, and is well-rooted.

2. Everyone needs Direction and Focus. A vine if left to itself will just spread anywhere and will produce no fruit. It needs a framework where its branches are trained where to go.

But I don't tell my son what to do or where to go. I give guiding suggestions and he makes the decision. "Find a job that provides quality learning opportunities, that build on your strengths."

3. Pruning leads to Fruitfulness. A vine left to itself would put all its energy in foliage and would bear little fruit. The vine has to be pruned down to two or three major branches to bear much fruit. In life, this is what is painful but yet leads to great fruitfulness. Prune your activities so you can have Focus. Prune your Wants to serve your Needs and personal mission. Prune your fears so you can develop Courage and Initiative. Prune Self-seeking so you can grow Synergy in relationships. You have to prune it now, or life will prune it for you.

4. Recession is Good for Fruitfulness. The ideal soil for grapes is loamy soil. A soil that doesnt waterlog the vine. It is that controlled scarcity that is one of many factors that triggers a plant to go into a fruitbearing phase. Grapes cultivated for wine are small, seemimgly stunted than the table variety. But these grapes are packed with flavor and intensity that contribute to a wine's quality and value.

I could have paid for his apartment in the city to support his job search. Or provide him with all the amenities to make his stay there comfortable. But we're not growing parasitic weeds, we're growing award-winning Pinot grapes!

[To be continued..]