Our Walking Drum

By Justin Storm

Introduction
Do you have a mission? If so, do you know what it is? If you know what it is what
are you doing about it? Does it determine the way you live your everyday life or do
you try to separate your life’s purpose from your day to day actions and pursue it
when you have time? Has your past unknowingly prepared you for your
foreordained future? Is the present giving you insight, experience, and knowledge
necessary to some future purpose and goal you have been called to fulfill or have
decided you will fulfill? I believe we all have a mission to fulfill in this life. I believe
we all have the ability to achieve greatness if we allow ourselves to be guided and
led by what Louis L'Amour calls “The Walking Drum”.

My most recent novel and introspective experience came through the 1984 Classic
The Walking Drum. For me, the book was reminiscent of other stories that have
inspired me toward greatness (Braveheart, Cinderella Story, Gladiator, etc.). It is
one person’s story of how they overcame defeating odds to achieve greatness in
ways they did not expect or necessarily want. The book teaches several life lessons
that deserve much reflection. Of the many, the one I chose to focus on is
understanding and living our own personal missions.

The Walking Drum – What is it?

In the latter half of the book the main character, Kerbauchard, has joined a caravan.
This caravan marches from village to village setting up booths and selling goods.
The speed at which they arrive to each location determines the success of their trips
because of the competition of other caravans to these cities/villages at certain
times of year. To help the caravan keep pace and schedule a walking drum is
provided. Each beat of the drum pushes the weary traveler towards their final
destination. Without the drum the cohesiveness of the group would dissipate and
eventual success of the group would not be realized. The drum is what paces the
individual to walk faster than he otherwise would when left to his own volition.

The drum’s cadence is the external and/ or internal motivation that pushes us
towards the realization of our goal. Without such motivation the accomplishment of
our goals is greatly delayed if realized at all. Allowing such motivation to enter our
lives is a decision that if accepted, requires perpetual attention for the drum to
maintain its beat. External motivation could be money, prestige, power, the
changing of lives, etc. Internal motivations are found in peace, self understanding,
hate, love, vision, and other internal workings that motivate us towards action.
Ultimately, one must have a clear picture of what he/she wants to achieve for the
drum’s cadence to fulfill its purpose. Again, the cadence is our motivation. The
more experiences and exposure we have of the importance of our goal the more
likely we are to work towards its achievement and the louder the beats of the drum
become. The less we involve ourselves in achieving our goal the more likely the
drums beat slows and its volume a distant echo drowned out by the competing
influences in our lives.

How do we find it?

How do we know what drum to follow and in what caravan to place our trust. Each
person put on this earth has a purpose and mission they are to fulfill. This mission
is not passively achieved by us cruising through life and “going with the flow”. A
mission is a specific task with which a person or a group is charged. A higher power
has charged us with accomplishing something great but unfortunately many of us
fail to recognize what this charge is.

We have competing drums in life that have various purposes. The spectrum and
paths of the competing drums are innumerable. Some drums are designed to lead
us to pleasure while other drums lead us to greatness and change. The path and
journey of pleasure is often paved and possess little to no incline. This path leads to
mediocrity and emptiness. The path towards fulfilling our life’s mission is often a
difficult one that many see as impossible to achieve. Much adversity lay ahead and
only the truly dedicated and self-defined individuals can overcome the foretold
adversity. The end reward, although unique to each mission, shares the fulfilling
characteristic of peace and greatness. The drum beat that leads to pleasure is
often an unconscious walk that so many of us are lulled into. The cadence of
greatness is a conscious decision that requires our upmost resolve and courage to
achieve.

Most of us fail to recognize what our mission here on earth is but each one of us, if
we take the time and make the required sacrifices, can and will accomplish great
things through the fulfillment of our missions. They are individualized and specific
to us. No mission is identical to another. They are customized to our unique
abilities, experiences, and background. They are as different as each person is
different. Therefore, understanding our individual missions is the first step we take
on this journey. This is likely not going to happen in the course of weeks, months, or
even a year. To define a mission requires a great deal of introspection and
inspiration. Much like a funnel our missions are general at first and become more
specific as we live, learn, and revisit the question of our purpose. After much
meditation, work, and personal analysis we will know enough generalities that
trigger the commencement of our cadence.

Once the cadence has been ignited it is up to us, as previously mentioned, to follow
its beat. The mission then needs to become our passion. It needs to be what we
spend our time doing and becoming. We must have balance in our lives but the
mission needs to have a place on the scale to ensure that the cadence continues to
prompt us towards our goal and the ultimate fulfillment of it.

Conclusion
This paper’s purpose is to motivate all of us to understand our life’s mission or
continue the pursuit thereof. We have all been given different talents and
experiences that should clue us to what greatness we are meant to achieve. The
fruits of the mission should reach beyond ourselves and the four walls of our home.
It should impact society in some favorable way and make life better for all those
influenced by it. Although its end objective is to reach beyond ourselves and home
the infant stages are likely going to involve personal preparation that will last years.
In fact, the majority of the mission’s existence may require intense personal study
of various topics and areas mixed with life experiences along the way. Identify your
mission, outline what you may need to do to achieve it, and follow its cadence with
precision and passion. These three actions need to be a perpetual process. Our
mortal mission ends when our mortal clock stops ticking.