Homogenized Hardware?

Did you take a road trip this summer?  I hope you had a chance to do just that, or will soon.  If you did, perhaps you noticed more than ever the continuing homogenization of America, or even just of Washington state.  From town to town you see the same big box stores, the same giant lighted signs, the same sprawling lighted asphalt parking lots -- stores owned by absentee corporations that take the profits and run to the home office far from here.  Maybe you wondered what happened to local or regional differences, because it hasn’t always been like that.

You probably don’t need me to name the big home improvement retailers dotting the map of the country.  And while they offer something of value to consumers -- mostly a price and a single stop for all kinds of things -- there’s yet another price to be paid by those same consumers in addition to the one on the adhesive tag, namely, the more intangible price we pay in transfer of wealth out of the community and the loss of jobs, social cohesion and hometown pride when the oxygen has been sucked out of the atmosphere for small businesses owned and operated by people who live around here -- people you used to see at PTA and church meetings, service clubs and around your neighborhood.  We need locally owned businesses because the life of our community includes the commercial transactions we conduct with one another as neighbors and we need these entrepreneurs to give leadership.  

Does it make sense to permit or advance the fraying of the fabric of your community to save a few dollars when you go to paint the bedroom or water the garden?  When we choose, one transaction at a time, to patronize locally owned businesses, it’s a choice to preserve something important.

While it seems like the big box home improvement stores constitute an overwhelming tide rolling inexorably over our shores, there are bright spots.  Here are a few right here in Kitsap County.

Henery Hardware, a home-grown retailer with stores in Bremerton, Kingston, Quilcene and Port Townsend.  They pride themselves on a more personal alternative to the big home centers, a level of service familiar in the 1950s.  They’ll share their substantial knowledge and walk you through your project from A to Z.

Coast Hardware, located on 7^th Avenue in Poulsbo.  I’ll be very surprised if, when you enter the store, you’re not greeted with a smile and an offer to help find what you’re looking for, even if you’re not sure what it is or how to use it.  The aisles are closer together here because their inventory is deep in a relatively small space.  The current owner has been operating here since 1995 and employs people you’d be proud to know.

Ace Hardware on High School Road on Bainbridge Island.  Do you remember the Ace jingle?  “Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man…”  You may not hear that music any longer, but the store has built its reputation and customer service on that single word “helpful” when it comes to preserving and updating your home. 

One more.  Scott McLendon’s Hardware in Port Orchard and Belfair.  There they pride themselves on their knowledge of hardware (there’s an edge!) and their large inventory.

I sense a question hanging in the air.  You might ask if these stores are not themselves big boxes. Well, yes, their buildings are each bigger than a bread box so they can meet your needs and they’ve associated themselves with national distributors to have access to competitive costs and gain training for their staffs.  But each is wholly owned and managed by people who live around here -- your neighbors and mine.  Each tailors its inventory according to local needs, tastes, economy and particular local features.

MY RECOMMENDATION:  Next time you begin a project to maintain or improve your home, do business with a locally owned and operated hardware store near you.*

Henery Hardware, Kitsap and Jefferson Counties
Ace Hardware, Bainbridge Island (and coming soon to Bremerton)
Coast Hardware, Poulsbo
Scott McLendon’s Hardware, Port Orchard and Belfair

*None of the businesses named above has paid in any way for this recommendation.

It's Ten pm. Do You Know Where Your President Is?

I’ve long been focused on the importance of local matters and of supporting locally owned businesses, of being involved in local movements, local charities and local service.  Because local is where we live, day in and day out. 

A tragedy unfolding in a distant land captures our attention and, of course, the media conduct saturation coverage of the downed Malaysian airliner, illegal immigration, Middle East mayhem and Russian military adventurism.  But, despite the air time they dominate and the collective mental position they assume, those issues don’t seem to change the rhythm of our lives in noticeable ways except insofar as they cause us anxiety.

I received a voter’s pamphlet in my mailbox last week and began reading about the people who’ve stepped up for election to local, county and state public office, along with those who for some reason would like to be members of Congress.  It's time to exercise one of my most fundamental rights and I’m shame-faced to admit that I’ve paid little attention to most of the candidates, though some are familiar, having already done creditable work for all of us who live around here.

Everyone seems to have an opinion about Barack Obama, and the news media track his movements for us minute by minute.  We always know where he is, what he’s said on just about every subject and how his job approval ratings have lately risen or fallen.  But the President’s itinerary, speeches and policies seldom have immediate effect when it comes to local practice of law enforcement, the creation and tending of parks, management of schools, maintenance of roads, formulation and interpretation of zoning laws, provision of mental health services and dozens of other matters that do, in fact, directly touch us and our children and grandchildren in our towns, schools and neighborhoods every day.  Those matters are the province of the offices sought by people whose names appear on the “off-year” ballot and, in presidential election years, below the candidates for that "highest office."  I'm of the mind that our ballots are built upside down.

Daily choices make our community what it is and what it will become.  Our choices to inform ourselves about those who speak for us in local matters of public policy and administration have impact on our experience and enjoyment of life.  Perhaps we should pay more attention to them.

Heidi

A tribute offered in the name of Heidi's Tuesday evening family -- Brigitte Hanson, Victoria Josslin, the author and others.

Life moves in a stream of events, both serendipitous and disappointing. We occasionally know triumph, sometimes defeat.  My friend Heidi Wells passed away on the evening of Friday, July 4, Independence Day.  For Heidi’s family and friends I’m sure there’s more defeat than triumph in their hearts just days after she slipped away following a rapid, renewed assault by the cancer that wreaked havoc in her life in the recent past.  Perhaps in time they and we will find peace in the fact that Heidi finally found freedom -- freedom from the pain, fear and uncertainty that accompany cancer, freedom from worry for those that would be left behind, should it ultimately take her from us much too soon. 

Those of us whose great privilege it was to know Heidi will miss her sorely.  She was a relatively private person whom I knew after these many years only insufficiently.  I knew her to be protective of the treasure that is her family.  Her love of Wes and her deep love and humble pride in her children and grandchildren were evident each time the conversation turned to so much as a glance in that direction.

For most of the past twenty years or so, I enjoyed the calm, easygoing warmth Heidi brought to the table around which we sat one evening each week for conversation, reading and instruction in the language of her homeland.  Heidi was one who brought to us a unique view of the fatherland and of her Muttersprache as she shared stories of her mother and her early years in Pforzheim at the edge of the Black Forest, stories of colorful celebration, of distinctive German cuisine, of traditions foreign to those of us whose own traditions sometimes seemed pallid by comparison.

I’m happy and grateful to have known Heidi and to have shared a small bit of her life.  I wish her family and all of us peace in the midst of loss.

Independence

Two hundred thirty-eight years have passed since subjects of King George in the New World stood up and announced a new nation, a nation conceived very differently from any that existed to date.  Their dream has persisted in the hearts not only of Americans but of people the world over who yearn to breathe free.

Even with our many problems, some deeply rooted, Americans are proud on July 4^th.  We’re the heirs of a great legacy.  It’s for us to recognize our duty to promote and protect the liberty our forefathers envisioned and what our sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, grand- and great grandparents paid for in blood and treasure.  To the extent that we do this, we’ll enable generations to come to realize and enjoy the dream.

It’s become my privilege to help my neighbors new and old to achieve a part of that dream, the right to own a home and land of their own.  Facing an economy still bearing uncertainty relative to the future, and dealing with regulations more complex than ever, this is challenging work, but it’s also satisfying work because it involves helping families at a turning point.  

Have a great 4th!

I’d be honored if you’d remember me in conversation with your friends and neighbors who are growing a family, downsizing or simply desiring to change their picture.

John Hays
Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate
206-419-5001 cell

Forgiveness and a Sermon in Seven Words

Béla Szigethy was for me a fascinating character, a man who, along with his young bride, fled first before the Nazis, then before the advancing Russians.  Having grown up in Transylvania, an ethnically Hungarian region now within the political borders of Rumania, the two lived for a time in a German refugee camp and ultimately emigrated to America at great cost.

Béla was by calling and education a Reformed Church pastor.  When I knew him he was far into retirement; I heard him preach only once.  He was an excellent speaker, though I recall little of the sermon he gave at Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church that Sunday, in part because I was mesmerized by his voice heavily laden with his Hungarian accent, by his countenance and by his long black clerical robe which trailed behind him as he walked and as he spoke from the pulpit.  His voice, his facial profile and his manner in the chancel called to my twisted mind another celebrity associated with Transylvania.  At home when my children were young, we sometimes referred to him simply but affectionately as “The Count.”  But we didn’t know him well.

It was an honor later to come to know Béla better, as well as his wife Maria, an outspoken, brilliant woman whose range of knowledge, had you known her only a little, you would never imagine.  Béla and Maria lived simply in an old house on Bainbridge Island, avid organic gardeners who raised as much of their own food as our northwest climate and their advancing age would permit.  They were voracious readers, the evidence of which was everywhere in their home.  The two of them were gracious and generous to share their deep knowledge of eastern European history, of the Polish Pope John Paul II and of the role of the church in the collapse of communism when our daughter Erin conducted a project for middle school history day.  Our admiration and awe before this extraordinary pair grew as it did for any and all who came to know them.  I’m only sorry that I didn’t give greater priority to building a true friendship with both Béla and Maria before their passing.

One Sunday morning as we lingered in the foyer after worship and talked with friends after most had gone home, I had the occasion to introduce Béla to a young couple that had only very recently announced their engagement to be married.  As Béla approached, I asked, “Béla, do you know Jonathan and Ashley?”  “Why, no, I don’t,” he replied as he smiled broadly and extended his hand in greeting.  “Jonathan and Ashley have just become engaged,” I announced, and Béla’s face again lit up, then slowly, gently, became more serious.  He lifted his right hand to his face with a bony index finger extended and resting on his cheek, his thumb supporting his chin, his right elbow supported by his left arm raised to his chest.  He thought for a moment, then, as his hand came away from his face, the bony finger still extended and pointing at a slight angle toward the ceiling, he looked at the couple and said, “You must forgive one another every day.”  Nothing more.

A silence ensued as we all were dumbfounded in the time it took for the wisdom from this humble man’s lips to take root.  In that brief moment, in those seven short words, I heard better marital counsel than I had ever heard or read before or have since.

C.S. Lewis has observed that we can’t live up even to our own standards of morality, let alone those of God, so we desperately need His salvation.  In any human relationships there are differences, affronts, misunderstandings, ego, personal agendas crowding out the welfare of the other.  The hurt of these slights is especially acute in a marital relationship, which is why marriage is hard.  In marriage, even in the best of them, we daily come face to face with our own shortcomings and, absent forgiveness, marriages stumble and fall.

“You must forgive one another every day.”

Words Against Knowledge (WAK Words)

Substitutions for actual considered and articulated ideas.

“Driving results.”  The use of the words drive, driving and driver should be restricted to operation of a motor vehicle, horse and buggy or a big golf club, but they’ve become favorites for sales managers for use in job postings.  When used in this way, the word has the same meaning as that in the compound word slavedriver. “Driving sales, driving performance, driving production, driving growth…” Do they have any other words available to them?

“That’s wrong on so many levels.”  The next time you hear this WAK phrase, politely ask the speaker to identify just one level. If s/he can, ask if s/he can name another.  In most cases, the spouter of this throw-away can’t articulate even the first.

 

“LOL, OMG…”  These shortcuts and others like them, invented by adolescents for texting convenience, have been widely adopted by otherwise intelligent adults and applied in unnecessary response to someone who had nothing much to say but texted or posted it on Facebook anyway.

 “Forging relationships.”  Another favorite of the sales management crowd.  Forging is something done with a big hammer, an anvil and a red-hot iron rod, none of which should ever be used when attempting to develop either business or interpersonal relationships.

“Experience.”  This is a word businesses use when they have nothing else to say.  “You’ll want to buy from us because we’re experienced.”  This may be a good reason for a high school nerd to accept an offer of a date with a very cute cheerleader, but in the business world, it rings pretty hollow.  Don’t we all have experience?  Give me another reason!

“It’s durable.”  Yet another favorite of salespeople selling furniture, vacuum cleaners, cars, tools, you name it.  Ask what durable means in the current context and you’ll either hear that same word repeated or you’ll hear something that might better have been offered the first time.

“Leverage.”  What in the name of heaven does this mean the way we usually hear it these days?  And how did this noun become a verb?  “The company is completely leveraged…”  Why don’t you just say, “We’re up to our ears in debt?”

“You have my thoughts and prayers.”  Oh, really?  When I hear this, I suspect in most cases that you’ll forget me as soon as I’m out of sight.  Do you actually pray?  I know there are people who have thoughts and many who pray, and some of their thoughts and prayers are effectual and fervent.  But you might take your deep concern one more step and give me a hand up when I’m down.

Corporations Are People, Too, Right?

A Short Lesson in Economics

by Michael Luckman

http://www.michael-luckman.com

I have a sneaking suspicion that there are a lot of good people out there who believe that corporations are people too. I can’t begin to tell you how wrong that statement is. But I’ll try.

Yes, corporations in good standing do have the same legal rights that individuals do. They are a legal entity and can enter into contracts, pay taxes, sue and be sued and must obey all laws, local, state and federal.

The one major difference between a human being and a corporation is this: a human being has a conscience and a corporation does not. Before you start asking what’s a conscience got to do with all this. Let me explain.

Years ago, when a company placed a sign on their building it was often composed of the owner’s last name: Hewlett-Packard, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Culligan, Dayton’s, Abbott Laboratories, Nordstrom, Dell and thousands of others. There was a certain pride these owners felt, and a certain obligation they felt towards their employees, customers and the communities where they were located. They often donated large sums of money for the betterment of those communities and its citizens. And when it came to paying their taxes they did it proudly, happy to repay this nation for giving them so many opportunities.

That was then. And this is now. In most of those companies I mentioned above you can search high and low for an individual with the same last name as the sign out front, but most likely you’ll never find one. Often they’re owned by an even larger corporation not even located in the same state. Maybe, not even in this country.

Corporations are run by paid managers whose sworn allegiance is to the board of directors and to the corporation’s real owners, their shareholders. And often these shareholders are large Wall Street hedge funds, mutual funds and huge pension funds like Calpers (California public employees). These managers are responsible for profits, and they are graded every 90 days on their performance. If they fail to meet their numbers they’re usually shown the door (often with a severance package that you and I could live on for the rest of our lives).

Let’s get back to the difference between a human being and a corporation, a conscience, or lack thereof. Let’s pretend that a large corporation has a manufacturing plant in a small Midwestern town. 100 years ago it was started by John Smith who was born and raised in the town. Over the years that the Smith family owned their company the company prospered and grew, and so did the town. Often a local family could boast of three or four generations who worked for the Smiths.

In the 1970’s John Smith’s descendants were no longer interested in manufacturing and decided to sell the company to one of their competitors. The company prospered under the new owners and so did the town. A decade later the new owners sold their company to Mega Corporation, one that didn’t directly manufacture any products but made their profits strictly by buying and selling these portfolio companies.

The new owners of John Smith’s company, looking to maximize their profits, and thus increase shareholder value, realized that they could increase their margins by 3% if they moved their manufacturing facilities to Mexico or China or Viet Nam or somewhere else. To top management and the board of directors this seemed like a good plan. The company wins and the shareholders win. The only people who lose are the employees and all the local businesses in this Midwestern town that depend on the salaries of those employees.

Let’s suppose that the John Smith company had 500 employees, and the average household had 3.5 people. Laying off those 500 people directly affects 1,750 people with no means of support and few prospects for employment because, as often is the case, a single large manufacturing plant supports the whole town.

With those 1,750 people having less income (or none at all) they spend less at the local stores; supermarket, pharmacy, coffee shop, clothing store, service station, local bank, etc. With fewer everyday sales these stores start hurting and soon start laying off workers. With less revenue from property taxes and retail sales taxes the local and county governments begin reducing services and laying off workers. There are fewer teachers to teach the town’s children, fewer police to protect its citizens, longer response times for the fire department and emergency medical technicians, rumbling roads and bridges.

In addition, the John Smith Company bought raw materials and supplies from a wide range of regional companies. When the manufacturing plant closed, these companies lost a long standing customer. If they could not replace the lost revenue, they too would have to lay off workers.

All this happens because a group of “suits” felt that a 3% increase in margins was best for the company’s shareholders, plus the CEO keeps his job for another 90 days and beyond.

The above fictional scenario is a classic example of what has happened to America. It is an example of the Law of Cause and Effect. Mega Corporation had no qualms about moving manufacturing offshore for a 3% increase in margins. The survival of the town was never a part of the equation. After all, as the Mafia says, “it’s only business!”

Would the Smith family, in good conscience, have done the same? Somehow I doubt it.

We are our brother’s keeper.

Reposted by permission of the author.