Booker T. Washington said, “Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.” I recently learned this lesson anew while my wife and I vacationed in the beautiful outdoors of Arizona and Utah.
It was my birthday, and Rachel had booked a day of canyoneering in Orderville, Utah. Orderville is a town of 700 people in the Southwest of Utah near Zion National Park. If you don’t know what canyoneering is, it’s when you hike up a few hundred feet of mountain and rappel down into a canyon. We booked a full day tour and, when we arrived at the tour company offices, we discovered that nobody else had booked that day, leaving us the lucky couple with a private tour. A friendly man introduced himself as Rob and informed us we would be spending the entire day together.
We hopped in a utility terrain vehicle (UTV) and drove down the highway at 50 mph with the cold wind whipping in our faces. We spent 6 hours with Rob, canyoneering off 3 mountains with UTV rides and short hikes in between. Rob chatted throughout, and I initially thought this was just part of his friendly personality and a way to pass time with strangers while increasing his chances for a hefty tip. But as the day wore on, it became clear to me that Rob was no ordinary fellow. Or maybe he was ordinary and that was the point.
Early in the day, we chatted about the tradeoff between convenience and living in the natural beauty of Orderville and all the outdoor adventures available within a few minutes of home. As the day wore on, Rob told us about another great benefit of living in Orderville. In such a small town, everyone knew and helped each other. Rob felt it was a great place to raise his 11-year old and 13-year-old boys, and his 9-year-old daughter. “Kindness is the way here in Orderville,” he said, “and what more can you want for your kids than them growing up to be kind people?” In between the beautiful canyons and scenery, we were beginning to gain a glimpse into Rob’s soul—but this was only the tip of the iceberg.
“What more can you want for your kids than them growing up to be kind people?”
As we drove over rugged terrain in the UTV, Rob asked what we did for work. Rachel and I told Rob we had both started businesses because we wanted to better match our values to our work. I explained that I left a high-paying, high-status job to allow me to live a more spiritual life, studying more Torah, writing, and spending more time helping people in my community and beyond. My old job, while very rewarding in some ways, was very demanding and did not afford me the ability to do these things.
Rob looked at us with understanding that we had more in common than he initially thought. He told us a story of his childhood friend named Jimmy who left the small town life and became an extremely wealthy businessman. At some point, he came back to Orderville and he and Rob spent a day together. They had a tight timetable for the day’s activities. As they were driving, they came upon a woman at the side of the road with a flat tire. “I’m pulling over to help her with her tire,” Rob told Jimmy. “Why are you going to do that? We don’t have time!” said Jimmy. “Look at that woman. She is stranded. We are going to pull over because it’s the right thing to do.” After helping the woman fix her flat tire, they got back in the car and Rob saw Jimmy smiling. “You know why you’re smiling now?” Rob said. “You feel good because you did good. That’s how it works. Next time you see someone who needs help, you stop and help them. And if you don’t know how to help them, you pay somebody to help them because you have money.” This is the simplest lesson in the world, but there was something about hearing it from a stranger in the great outdoors of Utah that hit home in a new way.
“You feel good because you did good. That’s how it works.”
As we hiked to the next rappelling point, Rob told us how he used to do construction and cement work, but there was something he really liked about his work as a tour guide. “I’m 37 and most of the people we hire to be tour guides are between 19 and 25. They’re fit, but we take them on really demanding physical challenges during training. This is a way to help them grow as people. They challenge themselves physically and mentally in the outdoors, but many of these trips can also only be done by cooperating with others. They learn teamwork, mental toughness, and how to stretch their limits, all while learning about helping others and the benefits of community.”
Rob understands two things many do not. The first is a deep understanding of service. Living a life of service means looking for every opportunity to serve the Divine by serving others. It means not waiting to be asked to help—and much more. It means finding ways to serve when there is no obvious opportunity. When we adopt this orientation and practice by observing the people and the landscape around us, we begin to see that opportunities for service abound. They are everywhere and present themselves every single day. What is necessary to see these opportunities is the right attitude, observation with intent, and a keen desire to fill the space provided.
This leads to the second thing Rob demonstrated in those canyons. As adults, we spend more waking time working than any other activity. A job is not just a way to put food on the table, even if that is the only reason you chose it. Opportunities for service may be more obvious in some professions than others. Nobody has a hard time understanding how doctors, teachers, and social workers serve humanity, but it’s less obvious in some professions. Aside from general honesty and showing his clients a good time while they vacation, it may not be so obvious how work as a tour guide can be a deep service to humanity. Rob shows us how.
Everything he does is service. He lives in Orderville, Utah because he wants his children to grow to be kind. He trains tour guides in a way that makes them better people. And he has conversations with his clients that make them contemplate their existence. Sometimes, I hear people say, “My work is just a way to make money.” Indeed, it may serve that function. But within your work, there are many opportunities for service. You just need to look for them.
If you find yourself near Zion National Park in Utah, I highly recommend booking a tour with ROAM, the company through which we had the pleasure of touring with Rob Figgins.
And this blog proves once again that when something matters to us we make the time to get it done.
I'm moving to Orderville.