EDITOR’S NOTE: Matt Coddington, Division Coordinator of the San Diego Men’s Division, relates personal sentiments after traveling to the Bay Area to participate in a special gathering honoring former MDI President and longtime MDI leader Olaf Krop who has recently experienced health challenges. Here is a testament to true leadership.
I was thinking about Olaf Krop the other day. I don’t know him well personally, haven’t been on a team with him, and haven’t hung out to do cool and fun stuff that men like to do together. But I’ve crossed paths with him a few times over many years.
I travelled up to San Francisco recently to be with him, and thinking about the times I have been in his presence, listened to him, and took in his energy and wisdom, I was always uplifted and inspired. And I remembered the first time I saw him at the Sterling Institute of Relationships in Oakland.
As I was thinking about him, I thought about all of the effort and care he put forth to ensure that men throughout the world had a path to become the men they’ve always wanted to be.
So I put pen to paper, reflected on the storytelling that Michael Moore, Douglas Gillette, and Robert Bly delivered at the Masonic auditorium in 1991 in San Francisco, and wrote a story for Olaf. I was able to read this to him at the honoring event in San Francisco.
This is called “The Fisherman.”
This is a story about a fisherman. One day he went fishing and realized it isn’t about catching bass in a lake, steelhead in a Pacific Northwest river, big tuna or marlin in Cabo San Lucas, trout in Wyoming, or catfish in Mississippi.
Realizing his fishing pole was an extension of his heart, he became a fisher of men and their hearts, their longings, their wins, and their struggles.
He realized that being a fisher of men required love, patience, dedication, action, a non-negotiable commitment, terms, and a willingness to deliver encouragement, inspiration, mentoring, ruthless inspection, harsh truth, and the raw masculinity men need to excel in life.
So he kept taking his pole, bait, and tackle out to the men in his world. He practiced all the things he learned about being a fisher of men and continued casting.
Like all fisherman, some days he caught and some days he didn’t. But he knew it was a long game and because he loved the men, every day was a new opportunity.
Eventually, the fisherman got old and he had to give his pole, bait, and tackle and fishing wisdom away. He had to leave his legacy and set up an apprentice to take his place because he knew there would never be a shortage of men who needed the fisherman.
In his wake, the apprentice took what he gave and created a new vision and path forward. The apprentice applied what the fisherman taught and caught even more. The apprentice made sure that the fisherman’s time and contribution was honored and the care continued. The apprentice became the fisherman and the master.
The fisherman had a very big context and commitment to the hearts and lives of men and the world.
We are all humble fishermen. Let us remember that.
What a great tribute and analogy. From one apprentice to another, Thank you for sharing!
You’re the fisherman and the apprentice at the same time, Speziale. Realize that. So am I and so is Krop.
Thank you, wish I could’ve been there. Krop has and continues to be a pillar for me. We’ve been on many teams together, agreed on oat things and acknowledged how different paths to the same objective. Loving the men!