The death of someone else

One day a conversation took place.

Chito said: “My Uncle Joe got fired from his construction job.”

Peter asked him what happened.

“You know what a foreman is?” Chito asked.

“Yes, the one who stands around and watches the other men work, but what’s that got to do with it?” Peter asked.

“Well, he just got jealous of me,” Uncle Joe explained.

Then I asked, “Why was he jealous of you?”

He said, “Because everyone thought I was the foreman.”

Some people act like foremen. They give orders, they complain but they do not do much work. And it is so ironic that the people who do the least have the most to complain about. Those that are industrious are really working hard. They hardly have time to complain.

Are you active with civic organizations? Are you a member of one? I would encourage you to be involved and join one. It’s great working with people in non-profit ventures, participating in worthwhile projects, helping the community and networking with people.

I have been invited to speak in many civic organization functions and I have met so many people through it. I remember starting my public speaking ventures by speaking in the different civic clubs who would take their chance on me and feature me in their important functions.

In these civic clubs and in many organizations one thing is constant, that only a handful of people are actively doing things while the rest do not. They may contribute money but when it comes to hard bodies doing things, they hardly show up.

This is why this material that was sent to me got my interest and put a smile on my face. The material is originally referring to a church setting but I have taken the liberty to change the word “church” to the word “organization.” Perhaps you can identify with it.

Our organization was saddened to learn this week of the death of one of our most valued members, “Someone Else.” Someone’s passing creates a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Someone Else has been with us for many years and for every one of those years, Someone Else did far more than a normal person’s share of the work.

Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend, one name was on everyone’s list, “Let Someone Else do it.” Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results; “Someone Else can work with that group.”

It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the most liberal givers in our organization. Whenever there was a financial need, everyone just assumed Someone Else would make up the difference.

Someone Else was a wonderful person; sometimes appearing superhuman. Were the truth known, everybody expected too much of Someone Else. Now Someone Else is gone! We wonder what we are going to do. Someone Else left a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it? Who is going to do the things Someone Else did?

When you are asked to help in your local organization this year, remember – they can’t depend on Someone Else anymore. You have to be the “Someone Else” they are looking for and then when you pick up the responsibility and do the work, something wonderful happens… you actually learn and grow! Nobody can take that away from you.

(Experience two inspiring days with Francis Kong learning leadership skills in this year’s last run of Level Up Leadership on Nov. 23-24 at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire at +639158055910 or call April at +639285591798).