Tacos

My favorite news story of last week was the announcement that a tiny taco stand in Mexico City earned a Michelin star for its excellent food. Chef Arturo Rivera Martinez of Taquería El Califa de León has only four different tacos on the menu and none costs more than $5. The café is only ten feet wide but is a great example of excellence being rewarded. Granted, he had a large city full of hungry people as possible customers, but that doesn’t mean for example, a small town in, perhaps, north-central Montana shouldn’t have great tacos as well!

It’s easy not to try if someone is an ordinary person in a small place doing ordinary things. Maybe you like taking pictures of the area around, say Cascade, but you do it extraordinarily well. Suppose you have a talent for art, for sports, for most anything, if you practice your art, you have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve done something well and just maybe the rest of the world will notice also. No public adulation, however, can ever match the satisfaction from self-awareness of having done even an ordinary job with excellence.

It’s easy to get caught up in substituting the approval of others for the satisfaction of knowing we did our best. I wish all our high school and college graduates at this time of year would have the gift of stepping away from the expectations of others and follow their dreams, whatever brings them the greatest satisfaction in life.

Howard Thurman, an American author, philosopher, theologian, educator, and civil rights leader said it very well, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Of course, it is also true that, if you think robbing banks or oppressing and hurting others is what “makes you come alive”, then it’s time to reevaluate your inclinations. Sometimes the goal isn’t worth the effort.

In other news, a sad event also happened. A 23 year old Colorado man died while descending after climbing Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. Unfortunately, over 70 people have died on that mountain, the majority of them from falls. I’ve spent lots of time on that mountain and admit I managed to survive some errors of judgment brought about by the hubris of youth and assumptions of immortality.

When we’re young we don’t appreciate the simple truth that nature doesn’t care how good we are, or what our intentions are. Children often say in a bewildered way, “But, I didn’t intend for that to happen.” By the time we’re adults we, hopefully, realize our intentions don’t influence the outcomes of poor planning or assumptions. Before the summer is over it’s guaranteed that some well intentioned folks will suffer the consequences of believing they can do whatever they want and the bison, bear, river, mountain, will know their good intentions and not let them come to harm.