Soap Box: As the year ends, we should reflect with gratitude

by Larry Schuster

December 16,2006

We have just received an overtly generous snowfall. It emphatically sets the tone for the holidays. A white Christmas is likely. However, unless we are blessed with fresh snowfall, Christmas will include the yucky, leftover appearance of stained snow. Still we could be rescued with inordinately warm weather and a gentle rain to rinse away the entire mess. That is optimism. The weather and the seasons are so much like our fickle human nature. We whine if it is too cold. We whine if it is too warm.
When pressed, however, we know it will always improve.

I am a micro businessman, existing under the radar of the federal government's small-business guidelines. I whine if business is slow. I whine if I am overwhelmed with projects. And I sure as the world whine when the 15th of each month arrives. I love America, but the "guvment," well, it is just a necessary evil. It is necessary as it affords us a system to coordinate important community activities such as public safety, road building and the printing of money, to name a few. It is evil because we are mischievous and lazy. We gladly pan off the difficult. In regards to the "guvment," it is easier for citizens to require employers to collect taxes rather than pay them directly. We ask the government to provide a safety net for those less fortunate so we do not have to be our brothers' keepers. It is easier to demand our rights from a jury we have never laid eyes upon than from friends and family who will not capitulate to our conniving. Yet still it is great to live in America. That is optimism. To be a micro businessman, you must be skillful at many tasks yet a master of none. We must be resourceful and, often times, jugglers. We must be able to change course, adapt and rise above the circumstances. We must be observant, able to recognize seasons and trends. Everyone we meet is a friend until they prove otherwise. We experience intense peaks and valleys. A wonderful project can be won, only to be soured by our miscalculations in the cost preparations. Ahh, but we learned from that one did we not? We live to make new mistakes so as to continue learning. But the "guvment," it does not learn.

As a friend once proclaimed: "People at their best are only people." The "guvment" simply is a reflection thereof. Appreciation and gratitude are not characteristics a government will ever demonstrate. However, these two characteristics are the ultimate requisites for micro business people.

Things can always be worse. Things can always be better. This is how I want to end 2006, appreciative and thankful for things just as they are. I yearn for the status quo: that hard work produces a profit, that tomorrow is about hope and that I am able to learn not only from my mistakes but also from the wisdom of those close to me. That is optimism.

As our community visioning process unfolds, I believe the greatest outcome would not be in terms of modern community development, higher profitability or more public amenities but in simple appreciation and gratitude. From top to bottom, we live in a fabulous community. It is beautiful. It is friendly. It is safe. It is a great place to work and live. Can it be better? Yes! That is the providence of tomorrow. We need to shed our notions that the greenies are going to ruin our idyllic paradise and that development is evil. We need to learn to mind our own business. Let us shed our dour countenance, for we have it well. God Bless each of us. Merry Christmas, and happy New Year!

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