Lessons from Beaumont

It is getting to be nigh unto a year since I journeyed to Beaumont, Texas, to work as a Red Cross volunteer at the Hurricane Rita relief base. Today, while cleaning off my desk, I stumbled across the journal I kept during my ten-day stint.

The days were long and hot, there was a great deal of disorganization and confusion, and tempers tended to run short. My job helping run logistics for the ERV (emergency relief vehicle) dispatch team required me to be in the thick of a lot of people, who frequently had "issues" with one another.

In the last few pages of my journal I wrote down several lessons I learned over the course of the trip. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Take the time to listen if at all possible, even if the person talking is being irrational, unreasonable, or just plain mean.

2. Don't interrupt. Even if you know the answer, or know that you don't know the answer, don't interrupt. An already stressed person will get extremely frustrated and most likely angry if interrupted. Interrupting creates more problems than it solves.

3. When answering, give as much information as possible, as calmly as possible. Just being informed, even if the information doesn't help the person's situation, can go a long ways toward relieving the tension. Also, be proactive about giving information. This can head off stress before it happens.

4. Say "please," "thank you," "excuse me," and so forth. This communicates respect and appreciation. Nobody likes to be disrespected. Everybody likes to be appreciated.

5. Look for ways to help, don't wait to be told what to do. This includes ideas for better ways to do things. (Just don't interrupt someone to share the idea--see number 2.) Constantly scan the environment for work you can do, help you can lend, problems you can head off, and questions you can answer.

6. Get as much information as possible in the time you have. More information can only help you. You'll be surprised how often you'll need to know that extra little detail.

7. Always look for ways to improve the system you're using. Try to eliminate any duplicated work, inefficient use of man-power, etc. Work to get communication to flow smoothly and appropriately. Eliminate needless links in communication chains, so that the people who need to talk to each other are actually talking to each other.

8. In an operation like this, there is no room for the "not my job" attitude. If you can't get it done, you need to find someone else who can. Also, if someone else is already doing a job, let them do it. Only jump in if they ask for, or obviously need help (see number 5).

9. Remember that the job is not about you. You are not there to be served, but to serve, as Jesus said (Mt. 20:20 - 28). Pride has no place, and no one owes you anything. Serving others means constantly thinking of, and anticipating, their needs over and above your own desires.

These are lessons I hope to remember and take with me throughout my life.

Fun With GRE Words

Our inured commander, in a moment of lucidity, recognized the exigent need to enervate the enemy lines. He ordered an audacious charge, which we troops carried out with an alacrity bordering on effrontery.

After that bloody day, some of the more irascible men virulently fulminated our commander. Not only were his orders obtuse, they claimed, but demonstrated even perfidity on his part towards his men.

Though they asserted their own ingenuousness, I thought they prevaricated with their accusations. The command to charge may have appeared precipitate or extemporaneous; however, the urgency of the situation exculpated the commander of any malefaction.

Cedar Fever

So here I am, back in Texas, visiting friends. I've been here for a week, and it got me. I think it drew a bead on while I was disembarking from my flight, stalked me for a while, waited until I felt secure, overconfident, and possibly even cocky... and then it pounced.

Cedar fever. The Texas terror. Curse of the hill country. Enemy of sinuses everywhere.

So I'm more than a little miserable right now. I've tried various drug cocktails, and nothing does much for long, except reduce my level of conscious functioning. Or the consciousness of my functioning level. Or leveling my conscious functioning. Or something.

So why blog about this? Why does a Texas allergy warrant the breaking of the silence?

Well, as it turns out, I have a bunch of blogger friends, and some of them recently noted my lack of blogosphere participation.

That is all.

Of Mice and Men

So I really did intend to jump ship over at myspace, but then some more friends joined on, and some old friends I hadn't seen in years started to contact me, and... anyway, I've still got a spot over there. Although the criticism still stands, the benefits of using it to keep up with those friends won out.

So blogging... I thought I might do it more when I started up this blog. But as it turns out, I don't have a lot to say.
More precisely... I don't have a lot to say to the world in general that I think would be worth reading. I have plenty to say to friends and acquaintances, when we're actually talking about something. But thoughts that are worthy of the world-at-large? What I'm writing right now sure doesn't qualify. So why am I doing it? Perhaps procrastination. I'm rather busy with plenty of other things, and don't really have time for this. Perhaps a vague feeling of obligation. I signed on, got an account, started a blog, and then abandoned it like a bad mother. I see other friends being very attentive to their blogs: writing entries on them, attending to the look and feel, feeding them, singing them lullabies, changing their poopy diapers... so I start to feel like a neglectful parent, and start to look over my shoulder for social services, who will doubtless come to take my blog away and give it to a more responsible and caring blogger.

Someone said "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." Samuel Johnson, the famous lexicographer, said "hell is paved with good intentions," and St. Bernard of Clairvaux said "hell is full of good intentions or desires." But someone put "road" in there at some point. Robert Burns said "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft a-gley," which is more perspicuously rendered as "the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Such is the state of my blog. As the name implies, it really does stink.

By the way, the title of the Steinbeck novel Of Mice and Men is a reference to the above quote. It's not a novel about mice and men, it's a novel about plans--hope, dreams--going bad. That's why Lennie dies. Hope I didn't ruin the surprise for anyone.

Jumping Ship

I have had a space over at myspace.com, but frankly, it's kind of an annoying site, and main reason to use it was for the blog, since I wasn't interested in meeting new people. This seems a much nicer environment. And they didn't ask for a ton of information when I registered. And generally speaking, I like the things Google does, so I was happy to see that Google was running the shop here.

So I'm jumping ship. Good-bye, myspace, and your ads and your "cool new people".

But will I ever really show any consistency in posting here? Most likely not. Still, you never know.