No matter when I passed by, morning, noon, or late afternoon the same white car was parked there, and the owner of that car was operating alternately a large faded yellow bull-dozer and a massive front-end loader. The times I passed by when no dump trucks were present, he was in the big dozer pushing the earth into large piles. I noticed he was methodical and calculating as to how he approached and tore apart the mountain of clay. Each day the mountain grew smaller.
When a dump truck showed up, he could be seen scooping huge amounts of clay with his giant front-end loader, maneuvering it with incredible skill and agility, forward and backward to scoop up, then dump the load with precision and neatness. His finesse with such heavy equipment showed incredible skill and mastery of machine. All the while an enormous American flag fluttered proudly in the wind above his yellow and black Clydesdale.
All of this is nothing noteworthy. But what caught my eye each evening, was that no matter how torn-up or chaotic, or messy, or destroyed the job site had been during the day, it was ALWAYS returned to a smooth, gently sloped, pleasing to the eye, symmetrically shaped hill. No matter if I drove by early in the morning before work hours, or late in the evening running errands, there was always a pleasing, well groomed, safely sloped hillside!
I began to pay attention! I mean if it were me, and if I’m going to start over tomorrow doing the same thing, tearing apart a mountain, and load it on to trucks, why would I bother to clean up and neatly groom the hill? Am I just going to make the same mess tomorrow? Why waste all that time grooming and tidying up. As the days turned into weeks, and weeks into months I came to greatly admire the man with the white car. He was sooo good at what he did. He must care deeply about what he does. He must take great pride in his work. He must stand for quality, dedication and hard work. He must have believed in excellence over mediocrity. He certainly went beyond the average and chose the extra mile. Each day I found myself affirming the man, blessing him, and appreciating him in my thoughts.
But there was one huge problem… the affirmations, the blessings, and the appreciating never made it outside my head. The words of appreciation remained in my private thoughts. And as much as I might wish that just by simply thinking good words and blessings for this man I could affect him, the reality is… those thoughts would never reach that man if I did not speak those affirmations with my tongue directly to him, face to face, man to man. Oh, believe me, I thought about it dozens of times. But that would be so awkward, right? I mean who drives into a constructions site and tells a dozer guy that he’s doing a terrific job? That’s crazy stuff, right? Why does a macho, blue-collar, heavy-equipment operator need an “Atta Boy” anyway?
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