Day 68 Ames, Iowa

With my new found family, Martha and Steve, at Church on Sunday

 

Day 68, Ames Iowa

   I arrived Ames and was welcome into the home of family members I had never met.   One of the wonderful things about having a large family is that many of them marry into wonderful and interesting families.  Martha Nace Johnson is the sister of my brother in law, Ted.   Due to the one child policy historically maintained in China, nobody in that country has any cousins (or aunts, uncles, nieces or nephews).  I have come to realize how much this must impoverish their social network.

     Martha and her husband, Steve, have moved to Ames to be close to their daughter, her son, and two young grandchildren.  I have discovered in my meeting with people that grandchildren have a powerful gravitational attraction (of which the children are delightfully oblivious).

      As I crossed the Missouri river and headed into Iowa, I have been pondering why we have become such a fractured people and what would be required for us to articulate and pursue common goals.  This is a conversation going on in my head while I am peddling.  Upon stopping, I am able to continue pursuing this inquiry with flesh and blood human beings.  I have found that it is a subject of near universal interest.

    Both Martha and Steve have devoted much of their professional lives pursuing the question “How can we work together towards achieving the values we all embrace”.  They have sought ways of doing this in both the public and private sector.  Martha had served as the Administrator of General Services (GSA) during the Obama Administration.  They had also both worked in engineering firms which sought to find ways to raise the quality in the production of small engines.  Among the steps which an organization needs to implement are

·         Identify a shared value

·         Identify the obstacles to achieving those things which we value

·         Call upon all persons who have a role in the production

·         Invite all such persons to be part of the resolution

   This might sound obvious, but it seems exceedingly difficult to implement.  It requires that we take seriously all those who have direct experience with organizational problems.  It is often difficult for those in management to accept this.

    Martha raised the example the desire of the U.S. military make “the perfect bereavement call” to the family of a serviceman who has been killed in action.  It requires that a concerted effort be made with those with expertise in pastoral care, as well as those in human resources.  It requires knowledge of the human response to trauma caused by the telling of horrible news.  It also requires a clear demonstration of gratitude of those in high positions.  Evidently, this is a task which has been done poorly in the past, and is now being done better.

    I asked her, “Is it possible to use such techniques in congress?”  She responded “that is above my pay grade.”  This spiritual obstacle to implementing the pursuit of quality is that we often do not believe that those with whom we disagree have anything useful to contribute to the process.