Proud Moments:
One can be justifiably proud when one creates or saves time by either solving
or preventing a problem or a wrong. One's life goes forward, that is, pro
esse, that Latin root of pride, proud and profit.
-
Best grill boy: For decades after I
last worked for him in high school, King Krekel always introduced me as the
best grill boy ever when I visited him.
-
Work detail volunteer: On a naval base, projects pop up that require
day laborers which the base officials requisition from the ships in port.
Ships officers would send workers from each division on the ship. Usually,
the workers were seamen (E-3's or below), that is, non-petty officers. The
electronics division was different than most divisions, for our ratio of
seamen to petty officers was quite the reverse. Our ratio was 1 seaman and
44 ET's. This reflected the mission of the ship:
Communication Command Ship, a floating
"Pentagon" from where the President could conduct a war. At the time, late
1960's, our 44 ETs compared with a destroyer having one ET, a cruiser having
three ET's and a carrier having six. Our one E-3 had entered the division
from another division as a step toward attending electronics school. Someone
realized that our E-3 was every day going off on a work detail which was
not only unfair but preventing him from being around electronic equipment
and personnel to learn about his career choice. This someone polled the other
petty officers to see if they were willing to implement a rotating pool as
substitutes for the E-3. The division officers thought it was a great idea
as long as regular assignments were first priority by the pool members and
no hassles occurred. The pool was over a dozen shipmates--of course, no E-6
or above volunteered. Actually, being a volunteer for a work detail
was a nice change of pace every few weeks. Two interesting things was the
reaction of the other members of the work detail who consistently would ask,
"How did you screw up to get on a work detail, you being a petty officer."
I told them the reason as well as since I was the senior rank present, I
would not only help but make sure the work was done in the most efficient
way so as to get the job done quickly. More than once I raised my voice to
stop the work so that we would all work in a certain way, e.g., pushing a
large object that should have been moved by a front loader. One of the reasons
all of us volunteered was that our only E-3 was our only division member
who was black. While he had been sent on work details as an E-3, the symbolism
of the only non-white sailor doing all the dirty work all the time did not
sit well with most of us. (When was pointed out to one E-7 from the South,
his response was, "He should go back to his old division.")
-
Best tar baby: When I painted fences
on horse farms between the Navy and college, I was called the "best tar
baby"--while the average painter could manually do a quarter mile of four-plank,
I consistently did a mile a day.
-
Taking care of Cathy: When my wife's original heart-surgery went bad,
I dropped everything to be her care-taker 24/7 for four months till she finally
came to the end of the "final" procedures.
-
Women in business: I had two women quit because their husbands said
they were becoming too independent. I consistently told employees to question
and think with the result that this self-empowering attitude carried over
into homelives where it was not appreciated.
-
Former high school students calling up and saying they realized their
lives were better because of my insistence that they were hired to learn
the work ethic, not to get rich nor be my friend. (Of the latter, most said
they did not like me when they worked for me.)
-
Taking care of Marcia
: When after 30
years of non-communication, I approach my first wife to offer her some stock
in Timism.com because after my second wife, there was no one living to whom
I owed more for my luck and happiness. More importantly, Marcia had helped
defined the first building block of timism
(
Rate of Integration
or
mentality
) from
which the other levels evolved. Upon realizing that she was in an abusive,
demeaning and debasing second marriage, I could not not help her find some
of the freedom and happiness she had planted in me.
-
$20 wadded up bill: While walking in a windy snowstorm one Christmas
morning in Minneapolis during my "homeless" phase, a Cadillac pulled up along
side. Out came a green ball which I realized was money. As I unrolled the
twenty-dollar bill, I handed it back, telling them to give to someone who
needed it. Disgusting. Throwing money at people.
-
Nigger in San Antonio on train:
Explained what God thought of the word "Nigger." One of the three
chocolate passengers said to me that it was the first time his 50 years of
life that he had heard a white man say "nigger" and not wanted to harm the
white guy. Said, "Thank you."
-
Student in Barnes&Nobles: During one keyboarding session, a young
man approach me and said, "I want to thank you for changing my life. Six
months ago I overheard a conversation of yours in which you made so much
sense for why one should go to college that I changed my life so I could
go to college." When I talk about going to college, I tell young people to
get an education, not job-training.
-
$2300 in billfold: In April, 2009, found a billfold with $2300 in
cash as well as credit cards and ID. Never once thought about keeping it.
Cost me over an hour and $10 to return it to its owner.
-
Neighbor on taking charge of her life: One day a neighbor came over
to say that she had changed her life because of my conversations with her
on being the master of her own fate. Despite the NUBS herein, she said had
meant a lot to her that I had focused on the benefits of changing for the
better rather than criticizing her failures to date.
-
A neighbor asked me to keep a key to her house in case something went
wrong while she was away. The same neighbor insist that her children and
grandchildren address me formally and acknowledge me if I am visiting her.
-
A passerby stopped and said, "I know some of your neighbors who tell
me what you do for them. You are a good person."
-
Bus Driver: While feeding the meter, the driver asked how I was doing
to which I responded fine. She then said that I did not remember her to which
I reponded that getting old took its toll on one's memory. She told me that
we had talked after she heard me telling some high school passengers to go
to college for an education not job training which she thought was really
good advice.
-
"Here, let me step on your toes so you have something real to cry
about." Thus, I introduced myself to a teenage girl standing behind me
in the courtyard of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, June, 18, 2011. Yes,
it was a boyfriend who had said from Colorado that they should use the summer
separation as a time to test their love by dating others. In many ways I
explained why boys were not ready to be good friends. Between laughing at
my analogies, suggestions and conclusions on boys, I hope Regina learned
the lesson to be no emotional slave to another person ... very apropo in
the shadow of Independence Hall. Otherwise, she will lose control of her
life as one immature boy after another tells her what she wants to hear rather
than what she needs to hear, the prescription for a long life of single
motherhood and babymouths to feed before the teenage years filled with
know-it-alls. I hope she took my advice for a hobby of reading about strong,
independent-minded women, e.g., Eleanor Roosevelt. I hope the Parasite Hilton
role models don't win out.
Created by Linkstat.bas\Program
CMD:G: BBS
05-22-2015 @ 07:32:35
(Len=13k)
: When after 30
years of non-communication, I approach my first wife to offer her some stock
in Timism.com because after my second wife, there was no one living to whom
I owed more for my luck and happiness. More importantly, Marcia had helped
defined the first building block of timism
(
Rate of Integration