Prime Time Perspective

Welcome back from Snowpalooza!  What a disrupter this recent winter storm was for the U.S. but in particular a showstopper for Texas.  Since we have some travels under our belts as a family I have friends in lots of low places – lots of snow places as well.  They all checked in on me during the power outages and for the most part it was 75% concern 25% teasing.  ERCOT now has notoriety and the Lone Star State as a go it alone on an energy grid provider is convenient banter.  My house was one that lost power for extended periods and it got uncomfortably cold – I did get a little nervous about the coming days’ weather forecast and decided I should go ahead and get more firewood since we at least have a gas fireplace.  Four hours later into that endeavor I had enough firewood to push through the next few days.  If nothing else, our new puppy stayed mostly warm – she got a log every two hours…

The whole event was yet another impromptu transparency experiment.  What I mean by this is it instantly showed people responding without much preparation.  In my case, Randy at Randy’s Firewood LLC was the type of guy I hope my boys model.  I’m outdoorsy but not necessarily an outdoorsman; I’m not one to hunt and fish for my meals.  I have never bought firewood from Randy before but after spending 4 hours start to finish completing my transaction with him I’ll be back.  It was the worst wait ever but by the time I got to the counter I told him I had a midsize SUV and to fill it up.  Randy then responded with a gentle “no” but you can have “x” much.  To quote him mostly accurately “I didn’t want to open today but obviously I had to and I want to make sure I can help as many customers as possible so I am limiting the sales to all.”  Randy earned my lifelong patronage that day and my respect – it was really, really cold by any geographic standard (like 6 absolute degrees; not factoring windchill) and he was outside with his family from start to finish providing a means towards warmth for countless families.

Last night the boys were streaming a new show until the internet went bad so me and the missus ended up watching a recorded Bull episode.  After that we watched a dated Celebrity Undercover Boss and the episode featured Deion Sanders and covered many local DFW matters.  For most of it I teared up along with Deion, especially when he addressed the unsuspecting aspects and what he would do over.  The first feature person we meet is a gentleman who serves as a coach/man/father/caregiver to about 80 youth in a football league.  He shares with Deion his own childhood days, that he went on to play top tier D1 football on scholarship, then was struck by a motorist and wheelchair bound for 2 years.  He runs a lawn care business and has days where his utilities are in jeopardy because he invests most of his earnings in the youth program.

An opportunity away from soaring.

This quote we hear often from Deion throughout the show.

Next up we meet a phenomenal female high school football coach working in North Dallas.  “I take it personally when we fall short on the kids because you never know what it means for them.”  If you watch the episode, you’ll quickly realize she can coach anyone on anything; she’s just that good.

And then we’re introduced to a faith based homeless outreach program – we meet a young man going to college (with lawyer ambitions) but sleeps under a bridge and was in 15 foster families as a high schooler.  His only pair of shoes are flip flops with holes in them and he talks about gathering his sleeping bag every morning before heading to class.  I had a hard time composing that last sentence without busting into somewhat-quiet heaves and I was just recounting what the young man said. I felt guilty because I was watching it in my favorite chair on my big tv in my more than big enough house. My parents modeled community investment (that give back to your neighbors spirit) and on most days I fall short of what they did and they did so on much more humble providings.

An opportunity away from soaring.

I’m hopeful our staff feel they are on the verge of great breakthroughs with our kids.  Deion may be Prime Time, but for Perspective, just ask a teacher.