Happy heavenly birthday to a Mexican fisherman
“I am convinced that deep inside our hearts we all possess the ability to be successful,” wrote my former boss and friend Michael Armijo once in his weekly newspaper column. He went on to add, ”I rely on a simple formula: “Confidence + Desire = Ability.” I believe that when we have confidence, and then add our desire, we find the path to ability. And I believe that each and every one of us can accomplish whatever we want, just as long as we have desire. But it has to come deep from within.”
These are words I have never forgotten and I am convinced that they are also words he lived by.
Michael gave me my first job in professional journalism over 20 years ago with the Walnut Weekly News in Southern California, if you don’t count the part-time work I was already doing for my local community college when I trained student journalists and future editors or the many seasons I spent covering local sports as a stringer with the local daily paper.
Late in COVID-19 year
2020, I logged on to Facebook and was shocked to learn Michael had passed. I had heard through the grapevine that he had been ill and he looked like he had lost a lot of weight in posted videos and photos, but after leaving Southern California for work related reasons six years prior, I lost constant touch with a number of friends and colleagues, except through the occasional Facebook message and communications. My mom always reminded me. “Keep in touch with Michael Armijo,” she’d say, “don’t contact him only when you need a job reference.”
According to a social media post from his relatives, Mikey died on October 22, 2020 (ironically, ordinarily a happy day for me because it is my mom’s birthday). He had health issues for several years but his organs failed significantly the week prior to his death. Doctors had him on life saving treatments for a week, but his blood pressure dropped and then his heart stopped. He left behind a family including a fiancée, a son and a daughter who now helps run his public relations agency and string of hyperlocal newspapers.
Facebook reminded me that today would have been Mikey’s birthday. What I personally will remember most about Mikey, besides being a mentor and genuinely good human being, was his sense of humor and his generosity. Before the real estate crash of 2008, Mikey would invite the entire newspaper staff to his home for dinners and would routinely treat us all to expensive meals. He provided Christmas bonuses every year until it was financially not feasible for him to do so. The door to his office was always open, I know that’s a cliché, but it was absolutely true in Mikey’s case.
I recall this story which Mike related to his readers: An
American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.
Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The fisherman replied, “Only a little while.” The American then asked, “Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” The fisherman said, “With this I have more than enough to support my family’s needs.”
The American then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?” To which the fisherman replied; “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The American scoffed;
“I’m a Harvard MBA and I could help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles, and eventually New York where you will run your ever-expanding enterprise.”
“But what then?” asked the fisherman. The American laughed and said: “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.”
“Millions?…Then what?” the fisherman asked.
The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”
Mike said this story reminded him that when you are searching for successes in life, you need to determine what success means. If you determine success by making an impact in people’s lives, then Mikey found success in spades. Even late in his life he worked as a substance abuse counselor for a Sacramento based nonprofit.
Mike also wrote a column in 2001, perhaps anticipating the day he would no longer be with us. “I lived a good life on earth, so now I will lead a good life in my next step. Just as I was taken from the womb of my mother, and lived that life completely, I am now taken from this life to live yet another.”
So happy heavenly birthday boss, while you definitely left this world much too soon, I take a bit of comfort in knowing you are definitely watching over all of us.
If you determine success by making an impact in people’s lives, then Mikey found success in spades. Even late in his life he worked as a substance abuse counselor for a Sacramento based nonprofit.