The Last Iceman

"The last iceman always makes money."

--anonymous

Way back before your time and my time, sometime around the beginning of the last century, there were no refrigerators. People had "ice boxes" instead. Ice was placed in the bottom of an insulated container and that's how food was kept cold. Sort of like a really big cooler or giant ice chest.

Well, along came refrigeration, and universal electricity, and the ice men, who used to deliver ice to your door for your ice box, started dropping like flies. There was no longer any need for them, so they quickly went out of business.

All except one. He may have had foresight, but more likely he was just stubborn. He hung onto the ice business for dear life, and pretty soon, he was the only game in town. It's his grandkids and great grandkids who own the ice company that provides all that bagged ice for mini-marts, picnics, weddings, and other large events. They're doing quite well, thank you, and all because of the persistence of one old man.

And so, while society can no longer support tens of thousands of independent ice men, it can support a few. And the few are the ones who refuse to follow trends, jump on band wagons, or adapt to, or adopt, the latest and greatest. They are the contrarians who everyone laughs at, and who return the favor by laughing all the way to the bank. They are the blacksmiths and chimney sweeps and craftspeople and artisan bread bakers and micro brewers who refuse to give up old fashioned ways for the bigger, the newer, the flashier.

Not a day, hell not an hour, goes by without some pundit telling you what you have to do to be successful. How you have to use social media, or get more education, or be cross-trained, or become technologically savvy, or... the list just goes on and on. All these prognosticators are well meaning, and all are dead wrong.

You don't have to do any of that stuff. You just have to do what you really want to do with intelligence, passion and grace. You may be "the last iceman" of your field or profession. You may be the one who happily refuses to join the rat race because, frankly, you don't like running with rats. And by being a new millennium holdout, you may be one of the happiest, most successful people around.

The choice is yours. It always is. Don't get swept up in the frenzy to become the hippest kid on the block. Make your ice. Make your money. Enjoy the ride.