| Wolf Eagle |
 | |  | |  | |  |
The date was Thursday, January 22, 2009. I had just gotten up from bed around 10:00 a.m.
and slumbered around the house trying to get my heating furnace to come back to life since
it apparently chose to take a break and stop running sometime in the middle of the night.
Other than me waking up to a cold face thinking that I must have had a stroke in my sleep,
died and just didn't know it yet, but my whole body was toasty warm all snuggled in bed with
comforter all bundled around me and a lovely woman nestled beside me snoring away...
Well, I threw back the covers and got up from bed and felt pretty much everything within
me shrink up, even parts I thought could withstand about anything were now trying to pull
themselves up into my belly, trying to find some sort of comfortable warmth. Almost like a
quest of finding that "burnt out Christmas bulb" I shimmied to the central heat unit and
worked the magic that years of familiarity have taught me. I wiggled this, wiggled that,
pressed here, pushed there and soon enough, POOF, that old furnace started right up and
no time at all, I was minus a layer of clothes.
Today being Thursday, I knew that it was garbage pick-up day and I glanced out the window
to see if they city truck had run yet. Those guys are really pretty consistent in their rounds.
I glanced down the street to my neighbors yard and noticed that her garbage can wasn't
out by the road as usual. This struck me as odd because I have been her neighbor for almost
20 years and she was like clock work on many things like that. Well, as I was putting on a pot
of coffee I kept wondering if perhaps I should go over next door and knock on her door as
my neighbor is pretty old now and I always tried to look in on her or check things out for her
because that is what neighbors should do, they should look out for each other.
As I was in the process of putting on that layer of clothing that I had just shed off getting
ready to walk over to her house next door in the frigid cold, I saw her son pull up in his little
truck. He must be a good son because for years and years, it seems that he always swings
by at some point during each day to check on his mother. I have always respected him for
that. Never can we grow too old to stop what we are doing and swing by and check on our
mother.
This set my mind to ease so I once again stripped off that layer of clothing and by then my
coffee was calling my name. I poured me a cup of my jump starter and walked back over to
the window where I had noticed that my neighbor had left somewhere in her car but I still
wondered about "why" her garbage can wasn't out by the road. Amazingly, with all the
troubles of the world it seemed my biggest trouble was trying to solve the puzzle of "is
today really Thursday" or did the city cut back on garbage pick-up. You know, a host of
sporadic thoughts that pepper an inquisitive mind.
Sure enough, to satisfy my now doubting mind, I walked back to my computer and clicked
the mouse to show me the date today, which it showed me what I thought I already knew. It
was Thursday. As I walked back up to the front of the house I could see the front end of a
large truck through the opening in the curtains where I had been gazing through trying to
solve the dilemma of the missing garbage can. Sure enough, it was the Dayton city garbage
truck and they fellows got my garbage, dumped it into the back of their truck and tossed
the plastic trash cans down to proceed to the next house which at this point in time there
wasn't a garbage can there.
I watched and noticed that the truck didn't fly by her house but went by rather slow as if
watching to see if someone was going to run out hollering for them for stop. Just as the
truck past her driveway sopping at the next house I heard a horn blow and saw my elderly
neighbor zoom up to her driveway where one of the men who was on the back of the truck
walked up to her car window and spoke briefly. Then I saw the man walk behind her house
with a garbage can where he emptied it into the truck and then walked back into her yard.
By then she had already pulled her car up into the driveway and was standing beside her car.
With a great big smile and a slight nod of the head in respect this man who didn't have to
walk all the way around behind a house, up onto her back porch and then carry a large can of
trash to the truck to dump it for her, I felt good inside to see that this city employee went
far beyond his job description.
Sure, he could have pretended that he didn't hear her calling for them to stop and just
ignored her and went on. Sure, he could have told her "sorry ma'am, you know you were
supposed to have your garbage can beside the road". He could have said any number of
things to ring off some sort of excuse to NOT attend to this elderly ladies need, but he
didn't.
To me, this employee who braves the cold, the elements of weather and the constant
climbing up and down hanging onto the rear end of a garbage truck took a couple minutes of
his time to actually do his job.
Folks, that is what public service jobs are about. Whether they be delivering the mail,
responding to a fire, cutting a tree limb from an electrical wire, responding to some sort of
emergency or perhaps the simple task of writing a police report for someone they may or
may not even like, but public service IS exactly what it is...PUBLIC SERVICE.
So to that unknown city worker that took the time to stop everything in order to help an
elderly lady in getting her large can of trash up to the curb and onto the truck for her was
in my eyes one of those character building deeds. It made me, one of the most pessimistic
persons I know, to stop and think that I just once again witnessed what it is really like to
live in a small town with people that honestly care about others and their duty to the public in
which they serve.
Amazingly, this man who took the time to help a city resident in which he serves, who took
the time to actually care and not ignore the calls of a citizen taxpayer, who went well beyond
and above his often thankless job description, it is he that made me feel proud to call
Dayton my home, if only for this instance.
So, to my team of city workers that faithfully fulfill a much needed service, THANKS for
reminding me that there is points of light in a dark, lonely world. And let this be a lesson to
us all in that no matter what it is that we do or do not do, we all are indeed judged by our
own actions, or inactions.
and slumbered around the house trying to get my heating furnace to come back to life since
it apparently chose to take a break and stop running sometime in the middle of the night.
Other than me waking up to a cold face thinking that I must have had a stroke in my sleep,
died and just didn't know it yet, but my whole body was toasty warm all snuggled in bed with
comforter all bundled around me and a lovely woman nestled beside me snoring away...
Well, I threw back the covers and got up from bed and felt pretty much everything within
me shrink up, even parts I thought could withstand about anything were now trying to pull
themselves up into my belly, trying to find some sort of comfortable warmth. Almost like a
quest of finding that "burnt out Christmas bulb" I shimmied to the central heat unit and
worked the magic that years of familiarity have taught me. I wiggled this, wiggled that,
pressed here, pushed there and soon enough, POOF, that old furnace started right up and
no time at all, I was minus a layer of clothes.
Today being Thursday, I knew that it was garbage pick-up day and I glanced out the window
to see if they city truck had run yet. Those guys are really pretty consistent in their rounds.
I glanced down the street to my neighbors yard and noticed that her garbage can wasn't
out by the road as usual. This struck me as odd because I have been her neighbor for almost
20 years and she was like clock work on many things like that. Well, as I was putting on a pot
of coffee I kept wondering if perhaps I should go over next door and knock on her door as
my neighbor is pretty old now and I always tried to look in on her or check things out for her
because that is what neighbors should do, they should look out for each other.
As I was in the process of putting on that layer of clothing that I had just shed off getting
ready to walk over to her house next door in the frigid cold, I saw her son pull up in his little
truck. He must be a good son because for years and years, it seems that he always swings
by at some point during each day to check on his mother. I have always respected him for
that. Never can we grow too old to stop what we are doing and swing by and check on our
mother.
This set my mind to ease so I once again stripped off that layer of clothing and by then my
coffee was calling my name. I poured me a cup of my jump starter and walked back over to
the window where I had noticed that my neighbor had left somewhere in her car but I still
wondered about "why" her garbage can wasn't out by the road. Amazingly, with all the
troubles of the world it seemed my biggest trouble was trying to solve the puzzle of "is
today really Thursday" or did the city cut back on garbage pick-up. You know, a host of
sporadic thoughts that pepper an inquisitive mind.
Sure enough, to satisfy my now doubting mind, I walked back to my computer and clicked
the mouse to show me the date today, which it showed me what I thought I already knew. It
was Thursday. As I walked back up to the front of the house I could see the front end of a
large truck through the opening in the curtains where I had been gazing through trying to
solve the dilemma of the missing garbage can. Sure enough, it was the Dayton city garbage
truck and they fellows got my garbage, dumped it into the back of their truck and tossed
the plastic trash cans down to proceed to the next house which at this point in time there
wasn't a garbage can there.
I watched and noticed that the truck didn't fly by her house but went by rather slow as if
watching to see if someone was going to run out hollering for them for stop. Just as the
truck past her driveway sopping at the next house I heard a horn blow and saw my elderly
neighbor zoom up to her driveway where one of the men who was on the back of the truck
walked up to her car window and spoke briefly. Then I saw the man walk behind her house
with a garbage can where he emptied it into the truck and then walked back into her yard.
By then she had already pulled her car up into the driveway and was standing beside her car.
With a great big smile and a slight nod of the head in respect this man who didn't have to
walk all the way around behind a house, up onto her back porch and then carry a large can of
trash to the truck to dump it for her, I felt good inside to see that this city employee went
far beyond his job description.
Sure, he could have pretended that he didn't hear her calling for them to stop and just
ignored her and went on. Sure, he could have told her "sorry ma'am, you know you were
supposed to have your garbage can beside the road". He could have said any number of
things to ring off some sort of excuse to NOT attend to this elderly ladies need, but he
didn't.
To me, this employee who braves the cold, the elements of weather and the constant
climbing up and down hanging onto the rear end of a garbage truck took a couple minutes of
his time to actually do his job.
Folks, that is what public service jobs are about. Whether they be delivering the mail,
responding to a fire, cutting a tree limb from an electrical wire, responding to some sort of
emergency or perhaps the simple task of writing a police report for someone they may or
may not even like, but public service IS exactly what it is...PUBLIC SERVICE.
So to that unknown city worker that took the time to stop everything in order to help an
elderly lady in getting her large can of trash up to the curb and onto the truck for her was
in my eyes one of those character building deeds. It made me, one of the most pessimistic
persons I know, to stop and think that I just once again witnessed what it is really like to
live in a small town with people that honestly care about others and their duty to the public in
which they serve.
Amazingly, this man who took the time to help a city resident in which he serves, who took
the time to actually care and not ignore the calls of a citizen taxpayer, who went well beyond
and above his often thankless job description, it is he that made me feel proud to call
Dayton my home, if only for this instance.
So, to my team of city workers that faithfully fulfill a much needed service, THANKS for
reminding me that there is points of light in a dark, lonely world. And let this be a lesson to
us all in that no matter what it is that we do or do not do, we all are indeed judged by our
own actions, or inactions.
| Wolf Eagle |
| | | | | | |
| To be a "good" public employee or a "bad" one. It is all about integrity and a willingness to serve the citizens that collectively pay their salary. This is a short story of a GOOD city employee. |
