Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Safety Leadership Training

I just spent 2 days in a Safety Leadership Training class. The last thing was a dramatized video based on this poem, which sums it up reasonably well:

I Chose To Look the Other Way
by Don Merrell


I could have saved a life today,
But I chose to look the other way,
It wasn't that I didn't care,
I had the time, and I was there.

But I didn't want to seem a fool,
Or argue over a safety rule,
I knew he'd done the job before,
If I spoke up, he might get sore.

The chances didn't seem that bad,
I'd done the same, He knew I had,
So I shook my head and walked on by,
He knew the risks as well as I.

He took the chance, I closed an eye,
And with that act, I let him die,
I could have saved a life today,
But I chose to look the other way.

Now every time I see his wife,
I'll know I should have saved his life,
That guilt is something I must bear,
But it isn't something you need share.

If you see a risk that others take,
That puts their health or life at stake,
The question asked, or thing you say,
Could help them live another day.

If you see a risk and walk away,
Then hope you never have to say,
I could have saved a life that day,
Instead, I looked the other way.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Busy Week

Well, the past week+ has been rather busy, so I guess I'll update.

Last Saturday, my church had an all-day job search seminar. They needed volunteers to help with set up, tear down, and such. I'd volunteered to help whenever they needed, so they tapped me for the last couple hours and tear down. Between that and a couple shopping stops I had to do up in that part of town anyhow, that ate up the afternoon and a lot of the evening.

Sunday was calm, though I had a friend staying with me while he waited for a semi to be assigned to him for his job, so I had some traditional "entertaining" duties.

Monday night I had a meeting at church. Tuesday evening was small group, and the host family invited me over for dinner before, which was a pleasant surprise. Wednesday was the "quiet" day of the week, though my friend got the good news that they'd found a semi for him, and he started with it, driving solo, the next day. Thursday was the monthly summer Men's Group get-together up at one guy's property near Gilmer; he has a private lake, so a lot of the guys go fishing (I just go to hang out).

Friday was quiet again, my first day alone at home for almost 2 weeks, which was kinda weird. Saturday afternoon, I went to see X-Men in the dollar theater; if it was a random action movie it'd be OK, but as a franchise thing it left a lot to be desired.

In the downtime I've had, I've been working on a couple things. One is finally getting my Roth IRA planned out. When my truck's fuel pump died the day after I went to meet an advisor, I made a car replacement priority. Now that excuse is gone, so it's time to get this over with. Also, my dad's computer is starting to act up, so he's looking for advise on new, modern pieces, so I did some digging on that for him.

Tomorrow evening I had another meeting at church, then Tuesday and Wednesday for work I've got to go to all-day training sessions on safety (it's become the new big thing by our parent company), so I'm probably going to spend the rest of the week trying to play catch-up from that.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Remember the Sabbath

This past Sunday, I had to do something I absolutely hate having to do. I had to work on Sunday.

Growing up, working on Sunday, or doing things that causes other people to have to work, was avoided as much as humanly possible. In my father's upbringing, the commandment "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" was taken very seriously. You don't work, or do things that might mean other people have to work. You don't go out to eat, you don't go shopping, or anything else where someone would have to be at work.

Growing up, we followed my Dad's instruction on this. My mom never had the same seriousness to it, but she respected his opinion. When I got old enough to consider it, I agreed that Dad's way of doing things made sense, and tried to continue the practice.

Keeping to it wasn't too hard, until I got out of college. Then, in real life, living with guys who like to do things like go out for lunch or catch a movie on Sundays, I slacked off a bit. Another part of the "rules" before was that we didn't turn down invitations from someone, lest we appear to be flaunting our spirituality (though I think my folks used a different phrasing to get the same point). So I played along for a couple years, though I was never really comfortable about it.

Over the last couple years, I've tried to curb things away from going out on Sundays for anything besides church. Since that was about the same time I moved into my own place, it was much easier. Also, I started finding polite and preferably subtle ways to avoid someone suggesting going out in the first place, and have gotten halfway decent at it. For most things short of emergencies, even if I have to do something like pick up a missing food item, I can at least avoid doing something where someone would (theoretically) have to be working. Automated gas pumps and auto-checkout lanes can be handy.

Having to work this last Sunday bugged me for a couple reasons. First, because it wasn't really necessary. My boss turned down a perfectly good Memorial Day holiday where we could have done what needed doing, and everybody's happy. It would've meant I couldn't go to visit a friend a couple hours away, but I would've made that trade easy (especially since I might've gotten to "trade holidays" for the Friday instead). Second, it bugged me because we ran way overtime, and I completely missed church; according to the original schedule, I would've made it in time for at least the second service, and maybe even most of Communion. Running late on something always bugs me, but when it means I can't be somewhere else I want to/am supposed to be, that can get me mad.

Since then, I've been reflecting a little on the nature of work, and found that my definition has some glaring holes in it. For starters, I don't hesitate to do things like surf the internet and watch TV, even though I know that there are people who have to work to keep those running on Sundays. Also, I've never put "work" stuff at church in the same category. I grew up waking up early every Sunday so that we could get to the school gym where our church met and set everything up, then tear everything down after service and then end up having a late lunch. So there's definitely a reevaluation that needs to take place there.

Finally, I realize how little I actually "honor the Sabbath" in my average Sunday. I go to church, sure, but when I get home I treat it a lot like Saturday. I don't spend the time in Bible study or worship, I just watch TV and poke at my computer, maybe do some chores that didn't get done during the rest of the week. This is the one that really bothers me. If I'm going to really practice what the Bible says, there's something missing there, and I'm going to have to spend a lot of time in thought trying to figure out where I want to be versus where I am.