The Lugwah Prize

There's a post by an old cracker writer who sometimes calls himself Old Folks about a journalist who gave himself the Lugwah Prize.

The Lugwah Prize is a commemorative silver dollar showing George Drouillard, the interpreter, scout, hunter, and cartographer, hired for Lewis and Clark's Voyage of Discovery. The coin depicts him pointing to the 'lugwah'. From the French "la gloire" meaning "over that mountain yonder". So all Droulliard had to do was point west and cross the next mountain until he reached the Pacific. And he looked like a genius. All he had to do was keep focused on what was in front of him. But once he achieved his goal, what next? Turn around, retrace your steps, and head home. Old Folks and probably Art Brew himself, would tell you that glory is a foolish thing and that the way back home is more important. For me, family and friends and the experiences in life are more important, but you do have to keep your goals ahead of you and strive to reach them, so you can see what is really important to you.

I have my own Lugwah prize. My parents grew up during the Great Depression. For them, and most people, money was tight at best. My father was the youngest of six. Even then, he wanted money, and what it could provide, of his own. So, at a very young age, he crafted a shoebox from scrap lumber and shined shoes for whatever people would pay him. He was a street kid and an entrepreneur. I still have that wooden box. It may be the one thing I have left that my father made with his own hands. It reminds me that with hard work and determination, anything is possible.

The box is very worn.