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Month: July 2009

I Can Identify with President Obama

If not comforting, it is interesting that I have come to identify with President Obama in his efforts to single-handedly solve most of our country’s problems. Let me explain.

In the mid-seventies I returned from an educational leave to a new job in labor relations at Ford. As a labor relations representative my first significant assignment was to conduct absentee hearings. The assignment meant that each day I would go to an interview room in the plant and conduct  hearings for employees that had been absent or tardy the previous few days. Typically, dozens of employees would line up for their opportunity, accompanied by their union committeman, to face my stinging interrogation regarding their absence/tardiness. Without a reasonable explanation supported by appropriate documentation, I would administer discipline which could be as little as a verbal warning or as drastic as termination depending upon their attendance records. We employed a progressive discipline system which meant that each penalty was more severe that the last. Within certain limits, I had the latitude to exercise discretion in what the penalty would be. For example, I could give a person a three-day suspension without pay and then their next discipline would be a week suspension, and so on. I might, because of mitigating circumstances, administer the penalty but waive the time off. Theoretically, the employee having been given a gracious gift and facing a next penalty of one week (appropriately threatened with such at the time of the gift) would see the error of his ways and come to work from that point on.

You must be thinking, what does this have to do with President Obama? Let me explain. When assigned to the absentee hearings, I inherited all the documented absentee records of every employee. Those who came the hearings were most often employees that had a history of habitual absence/tardiness. I looked at the terrible attendance records and talked with the employees and heard their pleadings and hard luck stories and tears et al. I began to believe, that despite the failed efforts of experienced labor relations representatives to correct their behavior, I possessed qualities and skills that would succeed where others had failed. As a result, I launched a personal campaign to single-handedly solve the plant’s desperate absentee problems. It was obvious to me that my predecessors had not explained clearly nor used the tools of persuasion as I was capable of doing to turn this around. To make a long story shorter, in a short time disciplinary actions decreased and absenteeism began to increase. This did not go unnoticed by my superiors. I was informed that if I didn’t get on track I would be fired. So rather than be fired, I fired. My delusions of grandeur were burst and I learned a valuable lesson. The lesson wasn’t that I didn’t have some special or unique skills and/or qualities that may have very well improved the process. I learned that I could not ignore the reality of history and experience and succeed by the force of my personality. What success I ultimately achieved in improving attendance came because I recognized the reality of the circumstances around me and then began to apply whatever special traits I possessed to those circumstances.

There is, I believe, a basic human trait that leads us to arrogantly believe that we individually possess knowledge and understanding that transcends all others and as well as lessons learned from the past.

It is comforting(?) to know President Obama is human.

On this Day in 1962 …

It was 47 years ago today that I walked into the Ford Motor Company Nashville Glass Plant as a new employee. It was both exciting and scary. Getting to work at Ford was a blessing. The opportunity did not come not because I had been recruited for my skills and talents. Joe Clark, a good friend of Ann’s family worked there and had the influence to get me hired. He literally sneaked into the employment office past others waiting for an opportunity to go to work. Ann and I did not have two pennies to rub together with a baby on the way. We were living with the Clark’s until we could get on our feet. I guess I couldn’t reach my bootstraps.

For the next 36 years 5 months and 8 days my life was pretty much defined by “I work at Ford’s”. My work experience was rewarding both materially and personally. I am thankful for the opportunity that came my way and it is good to be reminded that it was only because of the graciousness of others that it was possible.

With Clark where it all started. July 23, 1962
With Clark where it all started. July 23, 1962

 

 

Retirement party 1999
Retirement party 1999

Isaac Wisdom

I really enjoyed being with Isaac and Jenny Keene last week end. I miss his Christ-centered wisdom.

The following is from a couple of blog posts three years ago. Isaac’s comment is more relevant to me than ever.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Our small group met this evening. Good discussion about marriage relationships. It is obvious that we are seeking to have good marriages and it is a struggle.

As we discussed the various strategies we use to help us through transitions and the ebb and flow of our lives, it occurred to me that we most often think only in our particular context. For example, we may resolve an issue by finding time for our self by getting away or working on our hobby etc. These are not bad ideas and maybe effective but they are only available to people who have life circumstances that permit such opportunities. If our thinking is limited to a particular context, then what about those whose circumstances have no room for such solutions. What does the family whose lives are consumed from daylight to dark with just surviving do? If we are to really be salt and light to the world, don’t our coping strategies have to be able to transcend every circumstance? If not, we will only have something to offer those who live in our context. And if that is true then the only possibility for us to be salt and light is to first bring those who do not enjoy our circumstances up to our standard so we can be salt and light to them. Does that sound familiar?

So what are the coping strategies that transcend all of life’s circumstance and enable us to be salt and light? And by the way, are not the contextual solutions inherent with choosing what our life should look like and then doing everything we can to accomplish it?

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

I am still thinking about Isaac’s comment on my last post. In part he said:
“Quit looking for the solution and find the opportunity in the problem itself.” Could it be that the precise reason for these problems is the opportunity to bear witness to God’s sufficiency admidst the problem? Could it be that the answer is: there is no coping strategy. Could it be that the call of Christ is not to solve the problem, but to suffer it? Perhaps the call is not to the end, but to the journey….