The Thief of Hearts

The Thief of Hearts      8/23/12                                                                              The March Hare

            Joey Bartolomei (Omaha Royals), Phyllis Diller, Dick Clark, Andy Griffiths, Leon Helm, Earl Scruggs, Whitney Houston, Etta James, Johnny Otis (Harlem Nocturne; Willie and the Hand Jive), Harry Morgan, Andy Rooney.  Every year, about 2 ½ million Americans die.  Some after a long and fulfilling life, and some leave us way too early.

            Cliff Robertson, Jerry Lieber, Annette (Cha Cha) Charles, Bubba Smith, Peter Falk, Clarence Clemons, James Arness, Dana Wynter, Sada Thompson, Phoebe Snow.  And in that same year, our own Kyle Clark.

            This decade has given us many things, including about 2 ½ billion tears.  It’s not the “Roaring Twenties” or “The Nifty Fifties” or “The Greedy Eighties” of the twentieth century.  This second decade of the twenty-first century will bring us many blessings and joys.  Our lives will improve.  We will continue to live with hope and work for a better world.  But for obvious reasons, around here this decade will be known as “The Thief of Hearts.”

Unsung Heroes

Unsung Heroes     May/12                                                                                   R R Clark           

            I visited the office to prepare a press release for the ‘wall raising’ of our 35^th Habitat For Humanity home.  Executive Assistant Cheryl was hard at work.  She is always gracious about letting me intrude, and helping with information.  Cheryl goes above and beyond to assist home owners, record mortgage payments, and be the nerve center for our operation.  On her day off, she’ll be at the wall raising too.  She helps with the volunteer sign up sheets and refreshments.  She is a beacon of helpfulness.

            Friend Larry has been on the job for weeks.  He has been excavating, setting foundation blocks, pouring cement, coordinating volunteers and contractors, marking layouts, and preparing for the wall raising, just as he has on most of the Habitat homes we’ve built.  He would disagree, but he is one of the heroes in this town.  He has the uncommon ability to grasp the big picture while attending to the details of getting a house from ‘empty lot’ to ‘home’.  He is a truly remarkable volunteer.

            Habitat Partner Families may be the forgotten volunteers. They live in the finished homes and make payments like everyone else.  But they are also volunteers.  They spend hundreds of hours helping build Habitat homes.  Regular volunteers too, like Chucky, Rich, Roger, Russ, Stan and others quietly, and with good humor, make Habitat houses happen.  Unsung heroes abound.  That’s the way it is around here.

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.

An Eagle Falters

An Eagle Falters    7/27/12                                                                                     The March Hare

            The motto used to be, “We Deliver.”  Now it should probably be changed to “Managing to Become Irrelevant.”  After the Post Office Department became the U.S. Postal Service, congress no longer had a stake in its success.  They only wanted the money.  They didn’t heed the Service’s need to move into electronic communications.  Postal customers moved into them, but except for its own internal communications, the Postal Service was unable to lead them, or even follow them there. 

            While dedicated postal employees worked tirelessly, upper management gave away the Service’s parcel post business.  Then they invented Express Mail and gave it away too.  Then came electronic communications, and upper management decided that postal employees should sell neckties and t-shirts to boost revenue.  When first class mail went over the cliff, their answer was “upselling” services, reducing collections, closing service outlets, and using short-term temporary employees for long term needs.  It doesn’t take a Masters Degree to see that only hallucination could make this ethical, smart, or practical.  Tell this tale to anyone and they will likely respond, “What were those idiots thinking?!”  One wonders if congress will have to make it a Post Office Department again just to clean up the mess.

            While generations of dedicated public service traditions are being dismantled, the USPS probably has lots of ethical, smart, practical senior managers down the Plaza.  Around here, a lot of us customers would like to see them making policy.

Friends & Family

Friends & Family  7/16/12
I was reminded again this weekend how nice it is to see old friends and spend a little time with them and with family too.  What a good feeling to share a few hugs and "I love you's" with the people you love.  Giving the best of ourselves to the people who really have meaning in our lives is something to enjoy as often as possible.  Even when you have to eat "Cat-food Casserole" (joke! the casserole was great).  I'm just sorry we didn't have more time and more friends and family involved.  Around here, these are the people we know we can count on, and we know they can count on us.

Anger Management

Anger Management

            Except in military combat, motivation is the only good thing anger ever produced.  Actions taken when in the throes of anger will lead to bad results.  Decisions made while anger is in control just produce frustration.  The only way to benefit from your own anger is to calm down and then decide on acceptable ways to eliminate causes.  The sad but convenient truth is that usually you have gotten angry with someone because of something you yourself did or did not do.  Sad because you are the cause.  Convenient because you have the power to fix the problem. 

So, now that you have calmed down, what should you have done differently?  Regardless of where the fault lies, what positive steps can you take to prevent recurrence.  Remember the anger you felt and let it motivate you to correct the problem in a mutually acceptable way.  Let it energize you.  Let it help create that “I’m happy-you’re happy” result that you need.  Around here, you do almost always need that.  And remember to try not to anger management!