Of course, this is not true. You can go to a jewelry store and purchase one. You can steal one. You can inherit one.
But you can’t find your very own pearl, uniquely yours, never owned or touched by another person, unless you dive for it.
Even then you need to know to look for the ugliest thing at the bottom of the sea, an oyster, to find the pearl. Then you have to use a very sharp knife to pry open the oyster and see if a pearl even exists inside it. A lot of work is what that is.
And for what? For a piece of sand, the most commonplace of natural material, surrounded by hardened oyster phlem. Yum. Who will do that? Someone who REALLY desires it. not sort of desires it. REALLY desires it.
So, let’s unmetaphorize this (yes, I just made that word up). I REALLY want to make a success of the napkin drawings. I want to have them seen by the largest amount of people as possible. I want people who like the drawings and my commentary to be willing to buy napkin merchandise from me. I want to make a living at it. That is my pearl.
If the pearl were on the shore, it would just wash up at my feet. But it isn’t on the shore. I have to go out and call, write, post, purchase, think, collaborate, spend, draw, research, talk, listen, learn, focus, discipline, and more. And I have to do that every day. I am excited to do it. But I REALLY have to want this pearl to do this amount of work, right? Especially since there is no guarantee. But that is ok. I really want this pearl. I am going to dive deep for it in 2010.
Wish me luck and when the merchandise is ready to purchase you know what to do!
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
“Pearls lie not on the seashore. If thou desirest one thou must dive for it.” – Chinese Proverb