Date: Sun 11/17/2002 5:51 AM
Random Thought: Go On A Fast

On this chilly, damp Sunday morning I was thinking about a person I only met last week. I wish I had meet him years ago. His name is Glen Touchton. He is the plumbing foreman for the University. He is a member of a major university strategic planning committee which I was crazy enough to volunteer to co-chair. I don't know if it was by accident or it was a deliberate act that he sitting on this particular committee that is going to wrestle with vast Gordian issues of student learning, retention, and graduation. I do know--now--he has been operating by a strategic plan of his own that he and I wish everyone would follow: he cares. He truly cares. He cares about doing more than a good job; he cares about VSU; he cares about each student.

At the committee's first meeting, he made some of the most important and insightful comments. At one point, however, he punctuated his words with a self-demeaning "now, I only got through high school...." That scared me. From his comments and my experience I knew he was up to now, like most staff personnel, an unnoticed and unheeded resource, an untapped fountain of experience and wisdom. I wanted to make sure he would actively participate and speak, that he would be a voice on that committee. I know our new President and his Strategic Planning Officer don't think that he was there for mere appearance. I wanted to make sure he didn't think of himself as mere fluff. So, I arranged to speak with him privately. I am so glad I did, for I discovered that I needn't have worried. And, I started to know one neat and highly intelligent person whose caring attitude hold a lot of water.

For over an hour one day last Friday I sat mesmerized. I found the fellow-traveler and a kindred spirit I suspected I saw at that meeting. He knew all about me. Sadly, I didn't know about him until we met for the first time at the committee meeting. For over an hour I didn't say a word. I sat silently, intently focused, listening, learning. For over an hour, we never lost eye contact. I stared into his kindly, almost cherub face. His feelings were soft and caring. His words were commonsensical and fraught with penetrating insight. Too many would arrogantly pass him off as "What does a plumber know?" or "He only has a high school education." Well, I can tell you that after hearing his brief biography, he has a Ph.D. from the "School of Hard Knocks" with a major in common sense and he better be heard. He is on "the front lines." He is often in closer contact with students than are faculty. He sees and hears a lot more and has a tighter grasp of the reality of what goes on than do most administrators and faculty. He's got the all important feet-on-the-ground "street smarts" that's so often more critical than "book learning."

Listen to some bits and pieces of his words as I remember them:

....the students are my real boss. We're here for them. Without them, we don't exist, none of us gets paid....

....too many are thinking only about themselves. A lot of us are fighting each other and don't have a sense of seeing beyond themselves and belonging to his University....

....except for a few, faculty and administrators don't walk through the campus and stop or sit down with students and staff people to just talk and get to know them....some don't notice people around them and smile at them. It's like people don't exist to them....you know, just a simple 'hello' does a lot for people. It says they're worth saying 'hello' to....

....this isn't just a paying job for me.....I love this college....I love the students.....they're our future....in my way I can have an influence on that future....

....parents have put them into our care and we have to care for them and we have to care about them as if they were our kids....

....if the plumbing ain't working right or the food don't taste good or the place is a mess or someone shows they don't care whether they're here or not, they know we don't truly care about them as persons, and they're out of here....

....one month they're teenagers in high school living with mommy and daddy being taken care of, the next month they're here, on their own, alone, living with strangers in strange surroundings eating strange food, confused, having to make friends, having to buy their own food, do their own laundry, finding jobs, being confused, being disciplines, homesick, learning how to make decisions on their own....

....being here should be like raising our own kids....they're good kids. We should see that....

....we call them children and treat them as such when it suits us, and look at them as adults and treat them as such when it suits us. Most of them are still youngsters learning the ropes of living, practicing being on their own. They don't change that fast from the month they were in high school to the month they're here. We've got to understand that and help them in any way we can. All of us have to do that whether we're secretaries or plumbers or cooks or security or....

....a lot of faulty say why do we have to cut the grass or trim the bushes or spend a lot of money on those things. Well, it's like dressing right. It shows back on us....

....this place rests on a tripod that has to be balanced. There's the Plant Ops, the students, and the faculty. This here place is a community. Everyone is important. If one of the legs is not set right, the whole thing is going to tip over....

....we should being doing things because it right doing them and we're doing everyone right by doing them. It's not just to stop and solve a problem and then going about doing things the way you've always done it waiting for another problem to come along....My job is to be the best plumber I can be because it's the right thing to be. If I am, I won't be seen....My job is to prevent problems from happening. If I do my job and keep the plumping working, no one will notice I'm around. That's how it should be...

Well, on this point I think Glen is wrong. He should be seen. He has to be seen and heard. His counsel should be sought. He should be listened to, as should his fellow members of the university staff. Remember the words of Thomas Wolfe? I think it was Wolfe who said that a society with all philosophers and no plumbers will not last any more than will a society with all plumbers and no philosophers because neither will hold water. That is true of our campuses.

The Hopi Indians believe that our daily rituals are prayers that literally keep this world spinning on its axis. For Glen, being at VSU for the students is a daily prayer. It is both a figurative and literal devotional act to sustain the world and ensure its future.

So, I have a challenge. Next time you're on campus, go on a fast. Refrain from all whining and complaining. Don't say an unkind word to anyone. Don't think an unkind thought about anyone, including yourself. Don't do an unkind deed. Don't think you're the star of the show. Walk and notice only the good stuff. Look as if you're seeing each person on campus for the first--or the last. Smile at them. Say "hello" to them. See the beauty in their imperfections. Summon what the Sufis call the fragrance of the Beloved in each one. Treat each person caringly with care. Be a welcoming presence. Go so far as to say silently a brief grace as you look at each student, colleague, administrator, staff person: "Blessed, therefore, is everyone...."

Imagine if each one of us went on this hearty diet. Imagine if each one of us cleansed our spiritual arteries of those unhealthy fatty, clogging, unproductive, unsatisfying, negative cholesterols. Imagine how much healthier would our attitudes and actions be.

I assure you it is not easy. You'd be amazed at how many negative words we utter and negative thoughts we think each day. But, if you can do it, as Glen struggles to do it, if you say and think only what is heartfelt, you'll find that you can turn the monster into a prince or princess with a simple, loving kiss.