INSPIRATION IN HAYS, KANSAS
Friday was my father's last day working at S&W Supply in Hays, Kansas. He clocked out around 6:00 pm and became officially retired.
The following day he turned 79 years old. And celebrated his 56th Wedding Anniversary with my mother.
In the picture, he's holding a jar labelled "Don's Floor Money." For the last 17 years, he's been showing up to work half an hour early, before clocking in and starting his *actual* work, to tidy things up, put things away, sweep the floor, clean the bathrooms, and do whatever needed to be done so that the store was clean at the beginning of each new business day.
Occasionally he'd find coins or dollar bills as he was sweeping the floors and he'd hand the money to one of the salesmen at the front counter. Because, as he'd repeat, that money did not belong to him, so he did not want to keep it.
Unknown to my father, the sales staff started keeping the money in an old cup. Eventually they had to get a larger cup. When he retired this last Friday, they gave that money to him as a part of a retirement party they threw in his honor.
My father is a humble man, who comes from such a humble background that even humble people blush when they learn of it. Yet, honesty runs through his bone marrow. Those who know my father know he’s a rare gem of a soul.
I am happy I was with him Friday evening as his colleagues and friends celebrated his many years of working for the benefit of others. If anyone wants to know what is missing in the world today, just look at the attitude and energy of my dad. He feels entitled to nothing. He demands nothing be taken from anyone else. He simply wants to keep what he has produced. And he always looks for opportunities to help others, best he can, do what they need to get done.
The Rock
HA/KS's Link
100% real America - a place that several on here have never visited and cannot imagine actually exists.
