BACKTALK: letters, e-mails and faxes from PCT readers

WELL WRITTEN EDITORIAL
I’m sitting here in my office in D.C. and it’s still too early for anyone else to be here. I’m drinking some coffee and eating a blueberry muffin. I like this quiet time in the early hours of the day. As I sit here reading the March issue of PCT, I just finished Dan Moreland’s editorial on Joe Cheshire. It was well done. I knew Joe, perhaps a bit better than Dan, but far less than others knew him. I too was surprised to find out things about him I never knew. We go through life with our blinders on and usually see only a small facet of those with whom we come in contact. It makes me wonder if others might someday read my obituary and say, “I never knew that about him,” or “He never told me he did that.”

Dan Moreland is so right that we should all take time to get to know the “Joe Cheshires” of the world. They can put our own world into clearer perspective. They can, and do, help us to better know ourselves and inspire us to smell the roses. I think of attending funerals of parents of friends who have passed away only to find out things that I never knew about the quiet, unassuming mom or dad.

We often are unaware of the hardships faced by others or of their valiant effort to overcome them. Whether they suffer problems with their health, their finances or their personal life, they exude strength and determination. They do not wallow in self-pity nor do they allow others to pity them. Those are truly the strong ones from whom the strength of our nation derives — those who face the down side of life yet do not give in to it. I’m reminded of a quote by a friend who is president of a large company and underwent emergency angioplasty. I went to see him and asked him how he was doing. He looked at me, smiled, and said, “I’m bloodied but not bowed.” 

As a nation we were bloodied on Sept. 11. But we did not bow. But as a nation we are made up of individuals. The strength and determination of individuals like Joe Cheshire give us the inspiration to fight and the determination to face what life offers. I hope that I can always strive to look beneath the surface of others so that I might derive strength to “embrace the battle with the same fervor with which he embraced life.”

Thank you for the column, Dan. It was a great way to start my day.

Dr. Mark S. Lacey
Director, Technical and
Field Services, NPMA