Convenience Chibatamoto - The Essays of Lazy Leonard

Convenience Chibatamoto

The Essays of Lazy Leonard

In writing this book, which is my first and probably last, I used a character, Lazy Leonard, to express some of the ideas Ive jotted during my spare time in my personal journal. If your name is Leonard, nothing personal, the guy is fictional of course - and I do hope you do get along!

At first, I tried to write this book entirely in point form, but it looked a bit dry so I had to change the layout and style to what you are seeing now.

The hardest part for me was creating a story into which I could weave the ideas and thoughts, it was actually much harder than coming up with and putting together the ideas themselves, which I have italicized so you can quickly identify them.

These ideas may be right, they could be wrong, nonetheless, I thought it important to put them out there. I believe its the best way for me to get better ones. If I had to wait for pure perfection, nothing would ever actually get done.

I thought it prudent to use a more direct literary approach in Part Two of this book, and youll find out that most of what Leo says starting from there, is straightforward and without many tales surrounding it. I guess I used point form after all! But I never had to cut back on the actual ideas themselves, just the stories surrounding them.

Cheers!

One

Feeling A Little Bit Lazy Today

Lazy Leonard went around asking advice,

From men and women from all walks of life

Some said much, and some had nothing to say

But he was diligent enough to listen well before he went on with his way

There are many things which Leonard found puzzling

But he, being lazy, never cared to find the answer himself

Ill take a shortcut, he thought to himself

Ill get advice from those who have accomplished more, lived longer and seen more than I

And so off he went.

Two

The Principal

I run this school, said the principal, and oversee its activities and curriculum. I provide students like you, Leonard, with a safe and productive environment to learn. In fact, I have done so for the past two decades. And this I can say:"

Ive learned this from the thousands of students Ive seen come and go:

Geniuses are not necessarily people who are as intelligent as men think they are, but those who are as determined as men think they arent.

Great people learn from these two groups of people: the people who do not teach them and the people they teach.

And, so I ask you Leonard, is life a race?

Well, I dont know. But, if lifes truly a race, then Id say those who win arent necessarily the fastest, but those who never tire.

And whilst youre still in school Leonard, I want you to learn this lesson well:

Successful, phenomenal, people are those who learn, not only those who get educated.

Great people are those who learn from everything that either happens or doesnt happen. The remainder are those who complain about everything.

Three

The Lawyer

I understand the law, Leo. Without law, our community would fall into anarchy and the mightiest, not the peoples choice, would rule over the land. I conduct research on legal issues, I interpret laws and regulations. I draw up wills, deeds, contracts, lawsuits, and appeals. I represent the innocent saint just as easily as I do the ruthless scoundrel. And should you get into trouble one day, Leo, Ill be here to help you. But before you do, l can tell you this:

If you are too soft on yourself, everything in this world will be too hard for you.

Sometimes wisdom is shown more in the things we dont do than it is in those we do.

The best of cooks not only know how to mix the right ingredients, they also know how to keep out the wrong ingredients.

Love without wisdom hurts whoever is giving it out, and wisdom without love hurts whoever receives it. A wise person without love is a poisoned chalice, and a loving person without wisdom is skydiving without a parachute.

When you read a book, watch a movie or listen to a song, especially for the first time, heres what you actually do: You read yourself in the book, you watch yourself in the movie and listen to yourself in the song.

If you cant find yourself in it, you tend to move on to the next one very quickly.

People can succeed because of two things-fear of failure or genuine desire for success. But to maintain any achieved success, one simply must be driven by the latter.

Four

The Vet

When Leo got to the vet, he found him quite preoccupied. He (had a dog in his lap and was also scheduled to have) had an appointment with a farmer who had just recently added several head of cattle to his herd, and he wanted these documented as early as possible. He was just on his way out when he saw Leo and said:

Curiosity kills the cat, lack of it kills the man.

Life is like a dream. The meaning and purpose is always more important than the length.

Five

The Architect

People need places in which to live, work, play, learn, worship, meet, govern, shop, and eat. And my responsibility, Leo, is to see these fully and beautifully finished before they even exist. And Lazy Leo, I can tell you this:

Great people make plans according to the vision. The mediocre according to their memories. The rest dont even bother committing their ideas into plans.

I pity the man who believes so much in what has been done already hes afraid of starting out on his own, something new.

Some people live their lives in defense mode. Wouldnt you laugh at an army that goes to war with shields only?

Thats nave, Leo. Successful armies to attack, aim and fire.

Some people, after they are done going through the list of the things theyre against, theyve not much else to say. After they are done listing down the dangers theyve kept themselves safe from, theyve not much else to say.

Some people dont know how to get what they want. Thats okay. Some people dont know what they want. Thats stupid.

Broken eggs are better than rotten eggs. Its better to fail while perfecting your trade, than to let your dreams rot in the shrouds of fear of what the populace may think of you.

Six

The Guitarist