FINISHING TOUCH ON WHAT YOU START

How often do you get to add the finishing touch on what you start?

Most of the time we move the pile of expectations, but it moves so slow it’s hard to know it moved at all.

Give it a shot, do your best, and maybe, just maybe, things will work out the way you intended.

That hard part is living with the consequences of inaction.

What’s that like?

Common knowledge holds that if you don’t do anything nothing will change.

Reality hits with the obvious, that everything changes whether you act or not, but it might not be the outcome you hoped for while doing nothing to enhance changes.

 

Day One: The grass in the yard is too long.

Day Two: The grass in the yard is too long, still too long.

Day Three: If that grass keeps growing it could be a fire hazard.

Day Four: A guy walks by and says, “Your grass is so long it could be a fire hazard.

You: What am I supposed to do about it?

Guy: Mow your yard.

You: Great idea. Why didn’t I think of that?

 

The same exchange works for your car, your house, your gut.

The car has a new sound that’s getting worse.

Paint is peeling off your house.

You’ve had to get a bigger belt to hold your pants up.

What to do?

Get the car checked before you break down on a dark deserted highway.

Paint your house before the rot starts.

Eat less and lose weight before chronic disease takes hold and rules your life.

 

Your Personal Responsibility?

 

How many times have you walked past someone living on the street in a tent?

How many times have you driven over the same pothole in the road?

How many times have you seen a neglected building turn from a landmark to a shambles?

That should be enough for now.

Where I grew up we had two men in town who were different than most everyone else.

Gunnar and Oly were characters in a small town, middle-aged guys who showed up all the time.

Where did they live? What did they do? I don’t know, but they had enough energy to engage with people and show a new tie, a new button.

They looked a lot like the men I saw in Old Town Portland when I arrived in 1980. Who were they? Where did they come from?

The mystery continues and the numbers have grown.

 

Homelessness is a humanitarian crisis that demands an urgent response. Together, we will end the crisis on our streets, restoring safety, shelter, and hope — one person at a time.

 

I was driving around the south of England one time with my then-wife and two teenaged boys.

My then-wife is still my wife. I’m just checking on her blog reading time.

The teenaged boys are now full grown men with families of their own, but back then they were cooped up with their parents in a Vauxhall.

The plan for one day was visiting Corfe Castle. The kids had the run of the place, climbing and jumping around like it was a playground.

The local visitors didn’t like seeing that and said so.

I took their advice and moved to another section where the climbing and jumping continued.

The locals gave a weighty scowl when they showed up later and saw us.

The place was tumbled down after the English Civil War used an artillery bombardment to remodel.

A nice plaque explained the reconstruction that began in 1600 0r 1700.

For all of the work done, or not done, it was still a ruin to play on.

After hundreds of years two boys hopping from stone to stone like we used to do on the Bastendorf Beach jetty wasn’t going to hurt anything. In my opinion.

How do civilized nations deal with infrastructure repairs?

They ask citizens for their approval of a budget.

Then the citizens vote.

 

Finishing Touch

No one travels to Paris to see half the Eiffel Tower.

They want the whole thing with the last finishing touch.

 

 

When you know something is right, something is good, but it needs the finishing touch only you can give?

 

 

If you find something you care about, or someone you care about, on the upcoming ballot, vote for it.

Vote for them.

If there’s a civil wrong you want to right? Vote.

Your vision of the world you want to live in resides in candidates for office who share the same vision?

Vote for them.

What to do when a candidate falls in behind the man with this resume?

 

 

PS:

Vote for the other guy?

 

PSS:

Give the guy a chance because he’ll change for the better?

Baby boomers once stood up and spoke to power.

Millennials now have the task.

Are they up to it?

How can we help?