Imperial Valley Press

Carnegie

Occasionally I find in my mail something that touches the life of everybody.

The following letter was sent me by a social worker who places elderly people in homes.

"Dear Sir:

"Is there some-one at your settlement who could tell me of a place where I could send a perfectly well, but very bad tempered elderly (70 years) man who likes to fish?

"The man is presentable and educated and very hard to suit in food.

"I should very much appreciate being given several addresses, not too far from each other so that he could move from one to the other, as he became dissatisfied with each in turn.

"Being so far away I do not know how to get this information myself. The railroads do not seem to have any folders that list such places.

Hopefully yours,"

You may not be seventy and you may not like to fish, but you are growing old. You are older now than when you started reading this column. What kind of an old person will you be? Will you face the swiftly-passing decades gracefully, peacefully, with tolerance and kindness in your heart?

Or will you be a bad-tempered, crotchety, cantankerous old citizen that no one will want around? Remember, no one except yourself can make the decision.

What time do you get to work in the morning? The directors of one of the largest oil companies in Texas, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company, hold their weekly board meetings at 7:45 a.m. mind you, not p.m. This company has been phenomenally successful in the last 25 years.

It has made over a hundred million dollars. Has its success been due to the fact that its board of directors hold their weekly meetings at a quarter to eight in the morning? No not at all. Their brains probably would function just as well at 7:45 at night. But much of the company's success is due to the abiding enthusiasm that inspires this board of directors to meet at that hour. If you were to stand at the elevators in their office building in Texas, you would see most of these executives stepping into the elevator even earlier than the appointed time.

And you would learn that their enthusiasm likewise fires many of their employees.

The mental attitude of employees, nearly always filters down from the top to the bottom: enthusiasm of an executive inspires enthusiasm of those lower down: criticism and distrust and unkindly actions are likewise consciously or unconsciously absorbed by those who fill subordinate positions.

The above story was sent to me by Carl Wollner of Fort Worth, Texas.

If you have an idea that you feel would help or inspire others, won't you please send it along?