I used to have trains of thought, but now it's little more than a trolley. It’s All About Having Fun
Wise words from a Popsicle stick and a Baptist preacher.
As we sat enjoying our time together, my 7-year-old granddaughter, Abigail, couldn’t wait to finish her Popsicle. It wasn’t so much the cool, sweet treat in the middle of an August heat wave that excited her as it was the surprise that would soon appear. Popsicle prints riddles on the exposed end of the flat wooden stick, but you must finish the pop to reveal the answer. “Papa,” she asked, “where does a boat go when it’s sick?” A short pause, then she answered “To the dock.”
Amid gales of high-pitched laughter from her and a head shake from me, she begged for another.
“What kind of boat does a vampire have?” the second one read. I was surprised by the boat theme on the first stick, and stunned that there would be another in the same box. Through lips and mouth appropriately stained a sinister crimson by the strawberry pop, she shared the answer: “A blood vessel.”
More laughter, then a request for a third Popsicle denied by a reluctant grandpa who had previously experienced her behavior after excessive sugar intake. It was a wonderful moment, though, and it got me to thinking about Popsicle’s marketing strategy. The company had realized that by making fun an integral part of its product, the consumer would enjoy it more.
I used to have trains of thought, but now it’s little more than a trolley. Nonetheless, the trolley wobbled along its crooked track and I thought of my buddy Mike Joyce, CEO of Hargrave Yachts. Look at his website or any of his brokerage ads, and you’ll see a single word at the top center. That word is “fun.” It’s a clear reminder that while he’s selling yachts, and that while yachting is about going places and doing things, fun should always be front and center.
The trolley wobbled a bit farther, and I thought of Herb Chambers, avid yacht owner and scion of an automotive sales empire in the northeastern United States. Several years ago, I sat on the aft deck of the newest in Chambers’ string of exquisite charter motoryachts named Excellence, watching the sun gently sink over the walls of Antibes’ old port and settle into the Mediterranean. The reverie was eventually broken by the captain’s phone, and as he handed it to me, he said, “The boss wants to talk to you.”
“Are you having a good time?” Chambers asked. I replied, with genuine enthusiasm, “I’m having a ball!” It was apparently just the answer he desired, as he responded with a hearty laugh and faux indignation, “Well, I’m glad someone’s having fun with my boat because I’m working awfully hard back here in the States to pay for it.”
As the trolley ambled on, one final thought came to mind, one that may seem out of place, but that is quintessentially appropriate on this track. My old friend the Rev. Timothy Bowes is an outstanding preacher whose good ol’ boy persona and authentic North Carolina drawl belie a solid theological foundation and a brilliant mind. Tim was guest preaching on the subject of sin one Sunday morning at a church just up the road, and he said, “Sin is so hard to resist because it’s so enjoyable. If you’re not having fun while you’re sinning, you’re doing it wrong.”
Now, there are those who would have us believe that being wealthy is a sin, and that spending part of that wealth on yachting is a cardinal sin. I don’t think so, but if I’m wrong, then so be it. Sin on. Sin with gusto, and remember, if you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.