Monday, July 30, 2012

We Are Not Alone


Around Here

We Are Not Alone     7/28/12                                                                                              R R Clark
            Dalene Ferguson retired recently and I was privileged to go and thank her for all she had done to help me while we worked together.  She didn’t even remember what I was talking about, but I did.  She answered countless questions for me over the years and helped me improve my communication skills (a little) by occasionally asking me what the heck I was doing.  She is one of a great many people who influenced my working life.  It pleases me that she has had a wonderful career herself.
            How many people helped me, taught me, showed me, confronted my stupidity, and stood up for me?  Hundreds, surely.  Family, of course, and friends of parents, personal friends, co-workers, fellow volunteers—the list is endless.  At the top of it is my most treasured friend Carolyn.  We have been married for nearly fifty years.  I don’t know how she has done it!
            The point is, the “Self Made Man” (or “Self Made Woman”) is a myth.  In reality, we need other people in order to get by.  We need friends, like Dalene Ferguson.  And we need to pay their kindnesses forward.

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