"The
Fine Print", by M. H. Schrader
THANKS,
CONGRESSMAN SNYDER
(Published in the “Neighborhood Journal” 14 January 1998. Posted 03 October 2007.)
I have
always lived under the assumption that a man's (or woman's) true character is
exposed when that person is undergoing trials and tribulation. In other words, if you really want to know
somebody, wait until the chips are down.
This,
of course, was the plot of the movie "Trading Places." In the movie, a bet is made over whether a
person's genetics or environment reveals how they really are. A wealthy man is
made poor, and a poor one wealthy. The
wealthy person who becomes poor ends up becoming a petty thief and a bum.
In my
way of thinkin', that wealthy person was really a petty thief and a bum the
whole time but just didn't know it.
Extraordinary circumstances brought out the true person.
Kind of
makes you wonder though. How many
people that we talk to, are associated with, or have any kind of contact with
are actually petty thieves and bums, but we just don't recognize the creep
within. Do we really know who we are?
For the
biblically inclined, that was the whole point of the story of Job. The devil made a wager with God to see if
the pious and devout Job was the real McCoy or just a facade. So God destroys everything Job has,
including all of his children, to see who Job really was. And, wouldn't you know it? Job, was, after all, the real thing.
In my world,
the highest honor that can bestowed upon someone is respect. Likeability is nice, but it is
fleeting. Respect is something that is
difficult to obtain and harder to keep.
Take Job, for instance. If I had
known him, I might not have liked him--you know, some little personality
idiosyncrasy that drives you crazy, or some other nit-picky excuse. But, I would have to respect him. Any person who can go through so much, well
you know, and not lose sight of who he is deserves respect.
I must
admit, Congressman Snyder has gained my respect as well. As you all may recall, I was pretty hard on
him in my four part series a few months ago.
It probably could even be concluded that I had lost respect for
him. Well, let me set the record
straight--I may not agree with him, but I have to admire the way he sticks to
his guns.
While
that is definitely admirable, you might say, is it really worthy of
respect? Probably not. And that is not the reason.
You
see, Vic could have held a grudge against me for disagreeing with and
chastising him the way I did. After
all, that is common human behavior.
Don't you know, everybody has a vendetta, a grudge, or so I've been
told. Several weeks ago, I called
Editor to find out Vic's telephone number.
I explained that I wanted to get tickets to the White House (I am in the
District as this column is going to press).
Needless to say, Editor chuckled at my arrogance. So did many others. Why would he want to give someone who
criticized him in the press tickets to anything except maybe a ticket out of
town?
Surprise!!
I have my tickets. And this is why I
have gained respect for the Congressman.
It would have been easy for his office to tell me "No way" for
what I have written. But they did
not. Not only did the Congressman send
tickets, but also many other brochures about the District. To top it off, his office called me at home
to see if I needed anything else!
This
one small gesture, to me, shows a great deal of class. This also shows a Congressman who can accept
criticism and not get nasty. This is a
trait definitely worthy of respect.
Personal
to Congressman Snyder: thank you for
the tickets. And by the way, Valerie
with your office did a top notch job.
Just wanted to let you know that.