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n 1803 United States President Thomas Jefferson asked Captain Meriwether Lewis and his friend Second Lieutenant William Clark to travel across the western part of the country to explore and map the newly acquired Louisiana territory. They were also to seek out the best route for traveling to that side of the continent in order to establish the United States’ claim to the area. Lewis and Clark accepted the assignment. Unfortunately, they began receiving e-mails from people and organizations asking whether they could carry some mail to people along the way. Others asked them to bring back video footage of the pretty landscapes. Others asked whether they could help build a bridge across the Mississippi
We were yielding to the tendency to concentrate our best efforts on maintaining the institution rather than on furthering the mission. River, since they needed to cross anyway. Still others asked whether they could do a special study of the life cycle of mosquitos. Because they wanted to help everyone, Lewis and Clark did all they could to assist everyone else’s mission. The result was that they never managed to complete their exploring, which is why you have never heard of these gentlemen. Wait, that’s wrong.
Even if Lewis and Clark were tempted to take up other missions, they refused them in order to accomplish the mission that Jefferson gave them. Sticking to their mission is why more than two hundred years later Lewis and Clark remain household names in the United States. It can be difficult to stick to your mission when you’re continually distracted by requests from
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