Leading by example

Spent the weekend in TJ to build living quarters for church pastor / rehabilitation center director. We had enough people to build a 'double' this year, which means that there's roughly 2x as much as work as on one of the 'single' homes.* (Pictures to follow later - I took a couple in the car but none at the site.)

After two years of warm weather and relatively easy builds we had more of a middling challenge this year. Weather was cold and damp (it rained overnight on Sunday), which always makes the job a bit tougher: the jobsite gets muddy and slippery, sometimes your stuff gets wet, etc. "Mud" might be giving it some credit; at one point we were regularly walking through sewage runoff from one of the houses. (Never been happier with my waterproof boots than I was at that moment.) Also, the bano (please insert an enye thing over the n) on the jobsite this year was rugged, even by local standards.

The thing got done, lessons learned, lives improved.

Friend Blair was his usual inspirational self. I can't say enough about the effort he makes to put the trip together and keep everyone involved/invested. I said it last year, but I'll say it again here: He works tirelessly, but that's not the most impressive thing. (Anyone can work hard; yours truly gets more done than just about anyone except the aforementioned team lead, a fact which has much more to do with years of experience swinging a hammer and pushing a shovel than it does with a commitment to hard work. Quite the opposite: I'm lazy so I work efficiently; a by-product of exerting the least amount of effort is that you can get more done than someone who tries really hard but doesn't know what the fuck they are doing.)

What's most impressive to me is the attitude with which Blair approaches his work. He is endlessly upbeat, patient and kind. Every year I make a commitment to having a good attitude on the final day but invariably I become churlish and short. It happens to most of us: limited sleep, no hot water, stinking banos, bucket showers (if any - most opted out), stepping over human feces, people that get on your nerves at the best of times, blah blah blah. These are things that tend to scrape away the pleasantries. Not so for Blair: He cheerfully answers an infinite number of questions, is always ready with a smile and hug, words of encouragement. Whatever it takes.

As an atheist I don't believe in God, but friends like Blair (who is religious) help me believe in people.



* The pedantic project manager in me is compelled to point out that it's not quite 2x as much work, and exactly how much work it actually is as compared to the 'single' was a fun intellectual exercise to which I devoted considerable time while I was otherwise physically engaged.