The 8-Letter Word
Treasure. No other word can conjure up a smile on a person’s face like treasure. It doesn’t matter the age, gender or ethnicity. Treasure, my friend, is treasure. Now what we all imagine as treasure might be different - it's the power of the word. Why do you or someone you know get that lottery ticket? For the money, the moola, the treasure, baby. I’ve got treasure on the mind.
I’m an artist that paints a variety of things, but a lot of my inspiration comes from treasure, specifically the sunken kind from a Spanish Galleon. When thinking of treasure, pirates, a beach and perhaps a sunken ship often come to mind. This admiration of sunken treasure comes from my friend and world famous treasure diver Carl Fismer. Carl has worked over 300 shipwrecks and has found – get ready for a big technical word – “lots” of it.
Of Captains and Islands
When you were a kid you perhaps read Treasure Island, or your kids now play pirate thanks to Jack Sparrow. Oh yeah, sorry about that Jack, Captain Jack Sparrow and the Disney Movies Pirates of the Caribbean. Carl read Treasure Island as a kid, and perhaps the story never left him. Carl is a man who gave up a career to pursue a dream. The dream was as simple as: I’m gonna find treasure. Simply, the want does not fulfill a dream, but hard work. The hard work part is where most people give up.
I hear people all day who say that they wish they could do this or that, but they do the same things, they sit at home and watch TV, they do only the minimum at work. But some effort in the right places can lead people to their dreams, this is America, isn’t it? Where dreams come true. Take the extra time, read and study things that will help you with your dream, take a class, heck, at least do some research online. These little steps will help make large leaps and soon you will found the path for your dreams.
Working with Carl, I have often heard the story of how he got into the treasure business. He decided to take action. He drove down to the Florida Keys and met treasure diver Art McKee. As he tells the story, Art was mowing his lawn when Carl first met him. Carl told McKee he wanted to be a treasure diver just like him, and he was willing to work for free so he could learn the tricks of the trade. McKee then pointed out all the shortcomings Carl had: he didn’t know how to cook, how to fix small engines, or dress small wounds, to name a few. McKee pointed out that Carl wouldn’t be an asset but rather more trouble than help.
Tenacity
Most anyone else would have said, screw it, but not Carl. He went back home, which at the time was about 5 to 6 hours away and started taking night classes and also how to be a paramedic. He went through McKee’s checklist and made sure he knew how to do it. He drove back down to McKee’s house and informed him all that he knew. Carl was on the next boat out.
My dream is to be a famous artist. I spend time learning my craft, studying the old and new masters. After all of my hard work, I’m starting to find some success. When things get tough I think of Carl and get back to work. Why do this? For the love of treasure.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. -Matthew 6:21
For more information on Captain Carl Fismer's (Fizz) life, read his book, Uncharted Waters, available on Amazon.