Whatcom Works On, Even After Elections

Yesterday was Sunday. As a family, we take a break on Sunday. You know, work six days, rest one day. It actually works out pretty good. Keeps life in better shape, having a private world, leaving the work grind to be a listener for a day. Even during the election season. 

The issue of work always seems to crop up some where. You’ve heard it before, haven’t you? —you don’t work, you don’t eat…

What do you work for? Money? Happy clients or bosses? Influence in community affairs? Food? Bills to pay? We all know there are some tasks that give quick returns, and some that take years to pay back, like raising a family. 

To me, family is very important! One man classed a life in four periods. Age 0-20 is preparation, learning, growing up. Age 21-40 is “business and babies”. Age 41-60 is enjoying and enabling your young adults and their children. In this man’s scheme, age 61-xx was being a resource to the larger community. What happened to that man? In his 41-60 year period—his wife died. His oldest son Josh, wrote a book that shook church young people across the country, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye.” His youngest sons, Brett and Alex wrote a book several years later that again shook church young people across the country, “Do Hard Things”. 

Gregg Harris is a sort of hero of mine. He had a large footprint twenty years ago in the home school community. I have met him, talked with him. Some things he says really resonate. Some things don’t. Nobody is perfect. Gregg did not hold on to the national spotlight. He pulled back and settled in the Portland area, invested in his family, and worked at living out his ideals. In the process, he rose above unexpected loss and reversal. He is a survivor. He is the real thing.

Someone said that the best palm tree fruit is from the oldest palms, the ones with the hurricane scars. I don’t know, I seem to spend more time in cold places than warm ones, but this rings true.  Life has blows, and older people usually are more patient, more attentive, more efficient, more giving. I’d rather have a grandfather than a fresh out of college social worker supervising my work, wouldn’t you?

Age 60-xx.  Death. That’s not really the end, is it? What do you live and work for? Do you care about what comes the day after your parents die? The day after you die? Your children? Their children? Can you see that far ahead?

Tomorrow, Whatcom County will begin counting its votes. For several months, there has been this cramping focus on electing community leaders. This year, it is jobs vs. the environment. I would cast it as family jobs vs government jobs. The environment is just a wrapper. Actually, family is a wrapper or sorts. Many wrappers get thrown away. Some of our most loved American heroes were orphans. My point—no matter who wins this election, work remains, and we must work together or we will needlessly suffer together.

Last night, our family watched a video on immigration. Many people are coming to our country and county to work, legally and illegally. And, amid the hopeful are the evil few. Drug cartel operatives. Terrorist infiltrators. If a Muslim loses his prayer mat in an airport, you pick it up and hand it back. If he drops it while slipping across the US-Mexican border, you suspect another motive. There is a reason for immigration work laws and border security. 

We all must face the reality of loss, of death, of trading in life. A few years ago, a marketing book title asked, “Who moved the cheese?”  Markets come and go. A contractor client friend of mine here in Whatcom County lost his livelihood when the housing work bubble burst. Today, he and his family live in North Dakota, working in the oil patch. What is firmly in hand today may be gone tomorrow.

Work. Jobs. Survival. Wednesday, the election campaign machines will start to spin down. Most of us will go back to focusing on making our living. Some will comment on what has happened in the election, and some will just wonder what happened.

A big deal these days is disaster prepping. Supposedly, over 3 million Americans are preppers, people who expect a major calamitous blow to the United States, and work unusually hard making food and shelter and security preparations to be a survivor.

Are you a prepper? Where is your survival plan? Your job? Secure investments? A Facebook circle of fans? For many, prepping is working at a good government job, or a good medical job. For now, there is tax money in taking care of the weak. I worked a short contract as a Washington State Electrical Inspector. I was the last man hired, and the first man laid off when the extra department money ran out. Four years later, I was glad I had started my own business, when construction collapsed and many tenured electrical inspectors got pink slips. Government employers can be just as hard and unfeeling as private sector employers.

Whatcom Works. Why this blog? It has been said the best preparation for a crisis is to have good relationships with your neighbors. Is money in the bank the best asset? Silver in a sock? Food on the hoof? These may be life building blocks, but relationships are the cement, the glue. Relationships take work. The best relationship is with the transcendent God. Do you know your neighbors? Talk to them? Do you think about tough times? Do you know how to roll up your sleeves and work when disaster strikes? Before it strikes? Good times are the practice before the big game.

In weeks ahead, I will continue to highlight people and ideas that work and give back, and perceived threats to those values. People are either givers or takers. The elections end for now, but public policy meetings and legislation grinds on. And, the laying of foundations for the next generation of givers is even more critical and demanding. Families and children are very important.

Jobs. Death. Life. The seed with the life germ may rot in the cold ground, but the new life springs up on the resources of the former life. There is hope. Work on, Whatcom County.