Good Time for a Good Deed

Things seem to be changing in a good way as far as the pandemic. That is certainly welcome news! The past 14 months have been extremely difficult for doctors, nurses, front line workers, grocery store employees, delivery drivers, and essential workers. Not to mention the most difficult situation of all, families that lost a loved one due to Covid-19. I can’t even imagine how hard that would be.

But things seem to be looking up, at least locally, and for that I am very thankful. It got me thinking about an important question, “What can I do, what can any of us do, to help each other get back to a more normal life?” Two days ago, I witnessed one answer to that question.

If you’ve been reading my Monday Messages for a while, then you know that I own a company that does metals inspection for Parking Lot Light Poles. It’s a proactive maintenance program that is very beneficial for property owners, but it can also be a really difficult and extremely dirty job at times. Last week we started a project at a huge Shopping Center in Irvine that required the testing of over 300 light poles. Most of the time the poles are mounted on 3’ high concrete pedestals, which makes them easy to access. Unfortunately, sometimes they are buried deep into planter areas and hedges that make our job a nightmare. This particular shopping center was the "Friday the 13^th" of total nightmares!

I knew it was going to be super hard work that I couldn’t handle by myself at 66 years old. So I hired one of my sons, and one of my sons-in-law, to help me with the tougher locations. We arrived just after dawn on Saturday morning and immediately went to work. I am so proud of how hard my boys worked. They both put their heads down and cranked out the work without taking a break, and without a single complaint. Working alongside them, all three of us left after 7 straight hours with multiple cuts and abrasions on our hands and arms, but we got the job done… and man did that feel good!

But there was a moment, 3 hours into the project, when my son fell behind. I was working behind him and wondered where he went when I spotted him at the gas station at the border of the property. Apparently, an elderly Hispanic woman stopped him and asked if he could help her put air in the tire of her car. I saw him bending down putting air in her tire and trying his best to communicate with her. Her valve stem was cracked, and air was leaking out as fast as he could put it in, so he did his best to advise her of the problem and she smiled and thanked him profusely for trying to help her.

That’s when I realized that now more than ever, is the time to be kind to one another. We have all been through our own uniquely difficult situations. So maybe one way to truly help ourselves now, is to look for ways to help others!

Unless someone like you

Cares an awful lot,

Nothing is going to get better,

It is just simply not.

~ Dr. Seuss