This is not a political blog.  Carter and I had many discussions on making sure this is not a political blog.  My father even warned me, “Two things you never discuss in public:  politics and religion.”  Well, hold on to your horses, ‘cause we’re gonna do both!  

The Right Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington is my new hero!  Maybe because I’m a non-practicing Christian who self-identifies as Episcopalian.  I was raised in the Lutheran church by a Catholic mother and Agnostic Father (they always said when they got married they met in the middle), but converted and was re-confirmed as Episcopalian when I was in college.

Bishop Budde was quoted as saying, “It is about love of neighbor and sacrificial love and justice.”  She referred to the peaceful protests as “a sacred act.” 

Her words were calm and welcoming as she called for peace and justice.  She said all citizens were welcomed into the church who wanted to pray together for peace and justice.  In her Twitter feed, Bishop Budde confirmed, “We are followers of Jesus. … We stand with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd through the sacred act of peaceful protest.”  Bishop Budde closed an interview on Good Morning America urging everyone to align themselves with the God of unconditional love and justice. 

In publicity it’s all about frequency and repetition, so I’ll say it again, Peace and Justice

Peace and Justice

Peace and Justice

Peace and Justice

Peace and Justice

Today’s post is a guest blog by speaker, forthcoming author, and my sister:  Lynda L. Trahan-Greene

I am so grateful for those that chose/choose to serve our country.  That tradition started in my family in 1864 when my great, great grandfather chose to join the Civil War in Troy, New York, two years before the age of conscription (which is now called “the draft”).  Thank you to all of my ancestors and relatives that served, and thank you to everyone that has served and continues to serve.  I am proud that Renia Trahan, a Canadian by birth, decided to fight for the unity of his new country in order to abolish slavery.

The word “unity” has taken on a deeper meaning in 2020.  We are all sanitizing together, distancing together, and most importantly, learning together.  This time, we are unifying for our very lives. 

Finding the unity in difficult situations at the office is not always easy, however, as a means of relationship building, unity is priceless.  Why should we celebrate diversity when we can cherish unity? 

I challenge all of you to find that Unity Factor that works for you.  When you find your Unity Factor, it’s a necessary device to be remembered and duplicated, over and over.  When stress is overwhelming, you will be able to fall back on a sense of unity with your employees, co-workers, suppliers and customers that will feel familiar. 

Preparation for probable future stress is not something that is taught in school.  Meditation and yoga are wonderful tools, however, when the going gets rough, the Unity Factor is more readily available.

One of my favorite Unity Factors, is to simply be grateful.  Thank the copy machine repairperson for still being willing to visit your office, thank the restaurant worker for the extra side of ranch dressing in your takeout order, and thank your assistant for coming in today!  There are many other tools that can be considered Unity Factors.  Gift giving, compliments and actually listening are quality items that make a difference 40 hours a week.  What are your favorite Unity Factors? – Lynda L. Trahan-Greene

Yesterday, May 18^th, was the 40^th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.  I still vividly remember being driven to Sunday School that morning, seeing the plume in the sky (I was raised in Beaverton, OR) and wondering what happened.  A little while later my parents, like many parents, came up to the church to take me home not being sure of how the day was going to play out and wanting the family to be together.  It turns out, we were never in any real danger, but you don’t usually know this while you’re going through a situation, you only realize it when you’re on the other side.

Looking through a list of Natural Disasters in the United States I hadn’t realized how many of them I’d had close contact with:

• 2017 – Hurricane Maria hits Florida
• 2017 – Hurricane Irma hits my house (and Florida)
• 2016 – Hurricane Matthew hits Florida
• 2005 – Hurricane Katrina, the year I moved to Florida. I drove through New Orleans days before Katrina made landfall.
• 1999 – Tropical Storm Floyd hits Delaware. High winds topple trees and heavy rains cause 100-year flooding levels.
• 1994 – Northridge Earthquake hits Los Angeles. I was at a conference in Irvine, CA.  Always wear pajamas while staying in a hotel, you never know when you’re going to have to climb down many flights of stairs in the early morning hours.
• And, of course 1980 – Mt. St. Helens erupts

With all of these, the common thread is preparing yourself the best you can with the information you have on hand at the time.  If the situation changes later, don’t be too hard on yourself.  I chuckle every time I walk by the jugs of water sitting in my dining room.  When the pandemic started and there was a run on toilet paper we didn’t know if there would be a run on water, so we moved it inside from the carport to keep it from being looted when society fell apart.  Fortunately, society hasn’t fallen apart (yet) but there the jugs of water sit.

Be well, stay safe, make sane decisions, and stay flexible as new information presents itself. 

I remember as a kid asking my grandmother, “Why is there a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day, but no kid’s day?”  Her response?  “Every day is kid’s day!”

Today, May 12^th, is the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth (1820) and the end of National Nurses Week.  I would propose, however, that the week not end and that Every Day is National Nurses Day!

In 1953, Dorothy Sutherland, an employee at the United States Department of Health, sent a letter to President Eisenhower proposing a National Nurses Day. Although he did not make an official proclamation, the following year people began celebrating National Nurses Week on their own.  It wasn’t until 1974 that President Nixon proclaimed a National Nurses Week, of no specific week however.  In 1982, Congress designated May 6^th to be National Recognition Day for Nurses and President Reagan signed the proposal. The American Nurses Association expanded the celebration in 1990 to a week-long celebration (May 6-12) known as National Nurses Week.

The brave women and men of the nursing profession deserve to be honored, saluted, and respected as the undisputed wonders they are. 

When you get to be my age you’ve met your share of nurses.  Some in your doctors’ offices, some in hospitals, some in clinics.  They don’t have the privilege of ‘having a bad day’ like you and I can.  Literally, everyone a nurse meets is going through something, so they have to be kind whether they feel like it or not.  They, themselves, might be a caregiver and working with fellow nurses who are caring for someone they love. 

So, please, if you see a nurse today, or any day, give them your seat on the bus, let them step in line in front of you, hold the door for them (female or male) and show them even just an ounce of the kindness they’ll  show you, or someone you love, the next time you see them in their workplace. 

 “I think one’s feelings waste themselves in words, they ought all to be distilled into actions and into actions which bring results.”

                                                        ~~Florence Nightingale

A period of crisis always brings out a burst of reinvention.  It was one of those Aha! moments for me in school when I finally put together the down turn in the aerospace industry in the 1970s and the birth of the home computer industry.  It’s sad that all those engineers had to lose their jobs, but now we have computers, and laptops, and tablets in every room of our homes. 

We are in a period of crisis right now that is also bringing on a burst of reinvention.  A conference call I was on a couple of weeks ago brought out the statement from one attendee, “I’ve been knowing I should put my material online for years now, but now I have no choice!”  It’s not just a matter of finding new ways to do what we already do, but also finding new markets, industries, or even departments within an organization to do what you did before now that you can’t do it anymore the way you did before.  

A recent call with a potential client sets the perfect example.  The woman is a home organizer.  When people are concerned with making their mortgage payments, they don’t really care how organized their house is, so the woman’s business was down significantly.  Before the crisis, she had a referral from a home client to organize their office as well, and the potential client wanted to talk to me about expanding her business into office organization officially.  I thought this was the perfect time period for her advice, since people have more time on their hands to re-organize their offices.  She wasn’t sure, however, that her expertise extended from home to office.  To me it was a natural fit!  I knew articles in trade, industry, and association publications on how to use the downtime to dig into the projects you’ve always wanted to and clean out those files, finally. 

How many of you have articles that you now have time to write, finally?