A woman walks into her vet’s office with
her beloved pet duck that is dying. She says to the vet, “Doc, you've got to
save my pet duck.” The doctor looks over the duck and determines the duck is in
fact dying and there is nothing that can be done to save it. The woman
exclaims, “With all of modern medicine, is there nothing you can do for my
duck?” The doctor looks at her and asks, “are you sure you want me to go
through with it?” “Yes, yes. Anything” exclaims the woman. The doctor gets on
the office phone and says something to his nurse.
A few minutes later there
is a knock at the door. The doctor opens the door and in walks a tall black
Labrador retriever. The doc looks at the dog and says, “You know what to do”.
The lab jumps on the table and begins looking over the duck. He sniffs the duck
from bill to tail feathers. Finally, the lab looks up and shakes his head. The
dog jumps down and walks out the door.
A moment later a second
knock is at the door. The doctor opens the door and this time, in walks a beautiful
orange cat. The doctor looks at the cat and says, “You know what to do.” The
cat meows and jumps on the table. Sniffing the duck and gently pawing at its
feathers, the cat looks up and shakes his head. The doctor opens the door and
the cat walks out.
Again the doctor looks at
the woman and says, “I’m sorry ma’am, we've done all we can do. Your duck doesn't have much time. You should take it home where it will be comfortable.
With her head hung low,
the woman collects her duck and starts out the door. “Just a minute” says the
doc. “You need to settle your bill”. He hands her a bill for $5000. Floored,
the woman asked how in the world he could charge her $5000 to look at her duck
and tell her the duck was dying, something she already knew. “Well,” said the
doctor, “when you came in here, I told you your duck was dying. That would have
only been a $15 office visit. You insisted I perform more tests, so I had lab
work done and a cat scan.”
Aren't we like this woman
sometimes? Aren't there a lot of obvious things that we already know, but it
takes an “expert” to point them out? What about the obvious things in our
community? What about the obvious all around us that because we see it every
day, we often overlook?
I recently used this
story in a presentation to one of our Leadership Jones County groups. I wanted
them to understand that this is one reason why our EDA and Chamber hosts
Leadership Jones County programs.
We spend 8 months or so
taking a deeper look at our community. We “go behind the walls” of some of our
local businesses and industry. We spend time with our state and local
government officials. And we take a look at those challenges and opportunities
our community has for greatness. We want to open our participants’ eyes to the
obvious so that we can collectively engage our community and create a better
place to live, work and raise a family.
Each of our teams, both
in Leadership Jones County and Future Leaders of Jones County, have done an
outstanding job this year with their projects. They have instilled pride in our
community. They have overcome obstacles that they identified. They have faced
challenges and the outcome has made our community a better place for future
generations.
After Abraham Lincoln had won his
bid for presidency, he was supposed to head to Washington immediately. He
delayed his departure because he had been asked to speak about a young friend
who had passed away. In his eulogy, Abraham Lincoln said of his friend, “I like to see a man proud of
the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be
proud of him. ”
I am very proud of each one of our leadership program
participants. I am proud of our graduates and past participants. I am grateful
for the legacy they are leaving for our community. Each of them has strived for
the betterment of our community and none of us will fully know what those seeds
planted will accomplish, but if the tradition of our community’s founders
stands true, I expect nothing but greatness from each of them and each of you.
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* This article was originally printed in the Sunday, April 27, 2014 issue
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