Grow where you're planted....

   It's the middle of a very wet  Spring. With lots of Spring rains, cool nights and gray days, the gardens are growing at a very slow pace this year.
   I like to garden. It gives me the opportunity to see Mother Nature at work. With tender loving care, a bit of Miracle Gro and some water, I can watch seeds sprout into  beautiful flowering plants that brighten the yard or grow fresh vegetables to feed the family throughout the late summer and into fall. A bit too much for one family to eat from the garden, the local food pantry is a great place to take the extras.
   My gardens are not very big and the soil is not the best, but each year I add top soil and compost to improve its quality. I dream about having a larger garden, maybe even a farm, with a tractor and plow, some animals and a farm pond. But to do that would mean I would have to move.
   If  I told you how many times I moved my family you would look at me and probably just shake your head. I have joked that... “it's hard to hit a moving object,” but looking back I may have justified all the moving because I was looking for the perfect place to settle in, the perfect place to grow and bloom.
   We appear to be a nation continually on the move; moving here, moving there, relocating here and then... there. We look for bigger homes, more land, less land, more bedrooms, houses with three bathroom or maybe no bathrooms, a patio, maybe a pool. The reasons to move are endless with  no excuse being to unique.
   Our nation's fascination with moving sparked an industry call 'real estate sales' and now we base the economic prosperity of the country on home and property sales. But the truth is that most Americans do not have the assets or resources to move and end up staying where they are for much of their lives.
   How often have you heard....”I wish I could get out of here. I can't stand this place. I need a town where I can be somebody.” Perhaps it's not the town. Maybe the one who feels the need to move should look within.
   In my  backyard is a large boulder that sits in the middle of a small hand-dug pond. The boulder has a crack in it..The crack is about 3 inches deep.. Over the years the crack has filled with dirt and who knows what else. Several years ago a  pine cone fell into the crack and a year or two later a small pine tree sprouted from the seed.The pine cone ended up there, not by choice, but by chance.  Despite heavy snows, rain, ice and wind, that tree is still growing and now stands over 14 inches high. If plants and seeds can grow in some unlikely circumstances, why can't humans do the same?
   There was a brief reunion of two friends in the grocery store the other day.. One complained about the desire  to move to a new town, maybe even out of state.
 . “I felt the same way once,” responded the other. “Then one day someone  shared some advice with me.”
   That statement caught my attention. I pretended to look through the cookies and crackers in order to eavesdrop!
   “If you want to make your life better, grow where you are planted.  I decided to became involved in the community, made new friends and directed my energy toward  things that I could control. It changed my entire attitude..”
   Interesting thought, very insightful....Grow where ever you are planted!
   My small gardens are getting better each year. It's hard work. But this time I'm not going to move. Like the pine tree and the boulder in the yard, I have decided  to “grow where I am planted too.”

Frozen in time!

   One of the things I have become increasingly aware of as I have gotten older is 'time'. I know that in each minute is sixty seconds, each day has twenty four hours and each year, 365 days, with an exception of once every four years. No one has any more or any less than anyone else. But the older I become the faster time seems to pass.

   Now somewhat retired, it is not that I have more or less to do. It is just that the things that pass the time each day are different. And of course I will throw in the occasional afternoon nap, not always a good use of time, but something that does happen once and a while.

   The passing of time often give cause for reflection, reflecting on the past and I would venture to say that my generation can reflect upon some of the biggest changes in centuries. We have seen men go to the moon, computers become an important part of everyday life and new discoveries that have only begun to shape the ever-changing world.

   But every once and awhile there is that special moment that seems almost 'frozen in time', raising the question...”Have things really changed that much?” I had one of those moments not too long ago and it haunts me just a bit.

   You know you have lived a long time when you begin to get invitations to attend and/or speak at events, especially those where buildings are being closed or torn down, the message being that they have outlived their usefulness. That was the situation for me recently.

   The school consolidation effort in Maine over the past several years has not gone well and many small towns and communities have lost their identity, the result of school closings. At the elementary level, it is difficult. But I believe that the closing of a high school can be even more traumatic. A history of local rivalries, the tales and stories of the big games.....become only memories and with the high school gone, will they be forgotten forever?

   Along the shores of the Androscoggin River in western Maine sit two small communities, once thriving because of the paper mills and the wood industry, but now only an empty shell of what they were. In those early years heroes were born, legends were made, and life was just about as exciting as it could get. Whether it be a Friday night football game in the fall, basketball in the winter or baseball in the spring, there was always great excitement and always something to do. And it was fun.

   But the mills shut down, old people grew older, and the young people moved away. The population and the area could not longer support what had once been...and it was time to do the unthinkable.

   As part of the transition and bringing a respectful closure to the high school, a group of students, who will be the last to attend the school, are putting together a video. They are asking retired teachers and administrators who worked their to share some of their thought and fondest memories while working at the school. I was honored to be asked to participate.

   MSAD 36 and Livermore Falls High School was my first school superintendency and looking back, I was really young, just a kid in the eyes of some. But it was a great experience and difficult not to become part of the great community and be included in some of the rich traditions. And yes, those Jay- Livermore Falls rivalries. Who can forget!

   As I stood at the end of the second floor hallway on this day, something I had done many times before, it was as if nothing had changed. It looked exactly the same. The lockers were the same, the colors were the same. The hallway sounded the same, the noise and chatter coming from the classrooms. It was as if I were 'frozen in time'. 
   I walked to the other end of the hallway and looked out the large floor to ceiling windows. The view from the second floor was still as I remembered it, the picturesque valley and the surrounding mountains. This time of the year the trees are  lush in springtime greens and sky a bright sun kissed blue.

   I have not seen the video, but one of the final final shots is of me standing by the front doors and after one final 'look 'down the hallway, I turn and leave the building, the doors closing behind me. It signals not only the ending of a period of school history, but also the beginning of a new era.

   As I walked the hallways that day, I was aware that more than twenty years had passed and yet, it seemed like only yesterday. But then, good memories are never forgotten, and even thought time may pass, memories last forever,

   It will be sad for the community as the doors of Livermore Falls High School close for the last time. But there are new adventures to enjoy and new memories to be made.

I'm from the government and..

   I'm from the government and I'm here to help!” Those words tend to bring a smile to the faces of some, create instant  panic in the minds of others or might even cause one to reach for a gun or rifle. What has happened over the years for many Americans to lose faith in their government. Were we not taught in school that government in general and democracy, specifically, was a good thing. Wasn't government by the people suppose to be for  the people, provide a structure of law and order and insure the safety and welfare of all the citizen, regardless of race, sex, religious belief or age?

    But it doesn't seem to make any difference whether it's at the local, state or federal level, 'government' has become, in the minds of many, a dirty word. Was all that learning in school just a waste of time or did we skip the last chapter in the textbook in order to go out and play at recess?

   For the past several weeks I have been working for a company that has a federal contract to complete a survey for one of the large governmental agencies in Washington, D.C. It is a nation-wide survey and I do believe the results will be important, otherwise I might be at home working in the garden or drinking ice tea and reading a good book.

   The name of the company and the agency are not important, but my personal experiences into the work so far has revealed just how skeptical and angry some people have become about 'their' government.

   To put things into a bit of a context, for those who do not know me that well, my work and career experiences have spanned a number of different jobs and professions. But the one element they all had in common was that I was interacting with people all the time. Whether it be teaching, meeting with angry or hostile parents, speaking before groups or even 'cold-calling', I have had some experience with people in different situations and under some often unique circumstances and feel that I have had some degree of success. Even if someone said “no,” it could still be a positive and learning experience both for them and  me.

  While  I am now retired, I thought that this current position would give me the opportunity to learn something new, meet new people and offer community service that, in the long run might provide important and valuable information to Congress  and others making decisions in Washington. I know it is just a very small contribution and may not change the course of human events, but...one never knows!

    Four weeks in and many folks have at least answered the door and taken the time to talk with me. A number have agreed to participate in the survey, some very enthusiastically I might add, and I appreciate that. But there are others....

   High atop a hill at the end of the dirt road in a rural community was a small machine shop. Loud music blared from the workshop and I saw someone peek out from behind the curtain covering the  window. ( I looked around for unleashed dogs!) Then I noticed the two semi-automatic rifles mounted on the garage door. A statement or not, I decided not to stick around to find out.

    I have always tried to treat people with the highest level of respect and professionalism, regardless of the situation, and have come come to expect the same in return. Silly me! But when someone turns their back on me, walks away while I am answering the question they asked me, points to the exit and shuts the office door, I am not sure this demonstrates respect and professionalism, this behavior coming from a school administrator. Is this the type of role model we want for our children. Is this the way the administrator greets parents and children or was it just a bad day? Does he really dislike 'his' government that much that this is how he treats those who might represent it? Do we have a new standard of behavior here!

  A number of those I have spoken with have raised concern about the waste of money in government, i.e. the money spent on surveys like this. But after a brief explanation and my reassurance of the validity of the study (sometimes it is good to have some name recognition and credibility), they agreed to at least look at the material and suggest I  call back in a day or two.

    The first 45 seconds of  meeting someone is key to establishing  some level of rapport and I understand why some may not want to become involved. Being a good listener helps too. But I have found that people are not shy about expressing their frustration with the current state of affairs within the government and I admit I have my own concerns at times as well. But why this sudden and rapid increase level of skepticism and anger.  What has gone wrong. Did we not read the final chapter in the civic text? Perhaps that is a topic for a future blog.

    But for now, if I knock on your door, please don't slam the door in my face. I am just doing my job.

Being happy in your work.....

   One of my  favorite  movies is 'Bridge on the River Kwai'. It is a movie about leadership. But it is about something more. In the movie, Colonel Saito, the prisoner of war camp commander, addresses the imprisoned British soldiers.  They were about to begin construction on a bridge over the River Kwai. “Be happy in you work,” he tells them and despite the fact that forced labor was against the rules of war ( rules of war?),  the British soldiers marched off to the construction site each day, singing and whistling, and built a magnificent structure spanning the river. The Colonel was smart. He knew that idle hands and minds could lead to greater problems.
   We have become a society where often our identity and  value is linked, not to who we are, but what we do. With record numbers  still seeking jobs, people are struggling to survive and many have lost their sense of personal value. With the safety net of unemployment compensation and short term health care benefits for those who have lost jobs, it sometimes becomes too easy  to sit and wait for someone else to create the jobs and work opportunities. But as people wait, they soon begin to lose  self confidence.
   There can be joy in working! There is a feeling of personal satisfaction and accomplishment and while many may complain about going to work each day, or a 'nutty' boss or   lazy co-worker, we now understand the alternatives and the negative impact upon individuals and society and the extraordinary financial costs to everyone, both the working and nonworking.
   I recently heard the story of a young man who had been laid off from a well-paying tech company. He no longer reported to his little cubicle in the center of a room surrounded by other little cubicles. Resigned to collecting unemployment and knowing he still had some  health insurance benefits  should he become sick, he, like many others sat home each day waiting the phone to ring with the offer of a job. But no calls came.
   Several months into the 'forced' early retirement and tension growing within the family, he saw a sign in the window of a small restaurant advertising the need for 'wait staff' and with nothing to lose, he went in to apply. Because he was neat in appearance and  personable, he was offered the job. It was something he never dreamed he would do. It was hard, tiring work, but there was an 'element' of enjoyment about it. He was meeting new people and bringing home a little extra money to help pay down the debt he had amassed from his previous  lifestyle.
   By the end of the  year he discovered  he really liked the interaction with people. He had put away a few extra dollars  and he and his family decided  he would open his own little 'coffee shop.'
   Today, despite the still challenging economy, he is doing  well,. Will he become a millionaire? Probably not. But is he happy in his work? You bet. And he didn't wait for a government handout or some 'jobs bill' that would have taken years to pass in Congress.
   What he discovered from within was the importance of taking the 'first' step. He had found an energy and enthusiasm for life far beyond what he had known  inside that little cubicle, just because one day he got up off the sofa and accepted a job he thought he would never do.The decision changed his life forever. A decision like that might change many other lives too.
   By the way, in the story of the River Kwai, you may remember that after all the hard work, as the first train passed over the bridge the bridge was  blown  up, destroyed by  those who had  built it. But it was not a sad ending to the story. It was a story about people, pride, and  accomplishment, and being "happy in your work."

P.S.   I usually don't do after thoughts, but I have to add this one. Work is not only about making money or driving a flashy car or truck. It is also  about those around you, that you love, and making a contribution to their life so that life is a bit easier for everyone, even if the work or job is not what you may have dreamed about. Sometime a bit of sacrifice puts life into a new perspective and offers new and wonderful surprises..