My day job for the past 10 years or so has been as part-time administrative assistant for an international not for profit scientific organization. Its Board of Directors are all volunteers, serving for two year periods. Over the years I've been associated with the society, I've worked with a fair number of these folks. Some regard their responsibilities as things to deal with in their spare time; others take their terms of tenure very seriously. (Not really that different from those who work at paid jobs.)
I've been working for/with one of the officers for several years now, and he's one of the good guys. I know if I have a question, he'll be there with an answer right away. I've been working on my transitioning out of the organization, and popped him an email a couple of days ago with some things that fell under his domain. I was shocked to get this as his answer:
A tornado took out our neighborhood and home yesterday and we are living our of our car and a hotel at night. He doesn't live in what I'd consider a tornado prone part of the country. But the kicker was that he'd be out of touch for 'a couple of days'. This is a major life disruption, and I wouldn't expect him to be back at a volunteer "job" for a couple of weeks at the very least--months would be understandable.
My heart goes out to anyone who suffers such a sudden and devastating loss. True, material goods are just "things" and life takes priority, but to lose so much with no warning has to be a life-altering shocker. It reminds me not to take anything for granted. And to be thankful for the good guys.
1 comment:
Poor guy! You just never know. Seems like weather's getting so much worse and less predictable.
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