I've got so many things to be truly thankful for and yet I often find myself down-in-the-mouth about one thing or another, lamenting that I don't have something or that circumstances haven't gone exactly my way. Typically, and thankfully (again) those times are short-lived as I am always reminded of the bounty and goodness that fills my life.
Not surprisngly the most precious of my blessings are the loves of my life, the people nearest and dearest to me. And I can tell you I am blessed with a great many lives - family, friends, close relationships - in my various communities and roles, too numerous to count.
Here at work I have the honor of working daily with some of the most genuine, dedicated people I've known. They are individually gifted with unique skills, talents and abilities that collectively result in the greatness that our customers have come to appreciate and expect. But far more importantly, they possess a spirit of service and compassion. They care deeply about what they do and for the customers we serve. Time and again I have witnessed each of them graciously sacrifice personally for the benefit of a customer in need.
While we may not be unique, we are certainly indeed rare. In a time of increasing challenge and cynicism, our company I believe stands out as a shining example of what's right in the industry.
The people of my life are who I am most thankful this Thanksgiving Day. Please accept our grateful appreciation and best wishes for you and yours this holiday season!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
Our Most Cherished Right
I am excited! Tomorrow is Election Day. It is the day guaranteed to me by my Constitution to vote for the people I want to represent me in governement. It is the day I am privileged, and obligated, to vote for the men and women candidates that I believe possess and demonstrate the skills, wisdom, character and conviction to lead our nation for the next few years. It's an invaluable, inspired process by which we are empowered to self-determination.
Personally I feel my freedom and individual liberties increasingly rewstricted and/or removed altogether by the encroahment of a presumably well-meaning government. To some degree I have come to the conlcusion that our government at all levels has become 'self-aware', seeking more to preserve itself than to preserve the welfare of the nation's population. The growing differentiation referenced by public officials when speaking of "the people" and "the government" is alarming. It's as if they do not grasp nor value the instrinsic 'one-ness' rooted in the Declaration of Independence and reiterated by Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address:
"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom— and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth"
We are one nation under God. We are Americans all. We face many great challenges but history has shown time and again that by God's hand we have overcome those challenges to become the greatest nation in the history of the world. We always come together in the face of great hardship and sacrifice to rise above ourselves for the good of another.
I love my country. I will vote with exhuberation and relsih the freedom to do so. At day's end the voice of a free people will have once again been heard. Please vote. God bless America!
Personally I feel my freedom and individual liberties increasingly rewstricted and/or removed altogether by the encroahment of a presumably well-meaning government. To some degree I have come to the conlcusion that our government at all levels has become 'self-aware', seeking more to preserve itself than to preserve the welfare of the nation's population. The growing differentiation referenced by public officials when speaking of "the people" and "the government" is alarming. It's as if they do not grasp nor value the instrinsic 'one-ness' rooted in the Declaration of Independence and reiterated by Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address:
"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom— and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth"
We are one nation under God. We are Americans all. We face many great challenges but history has shown time and again that by God's hand we have overcome those challenges to become the greatest nation in the history of the world. We always come together in the face of great hardship and sacrifice to rise above ourselves for the good of another.
I love my country. I will vote with exhuberation and relsih the freedom to do so. At day's end the voice of a free people will have once again been heard. Please vote. God bless America!