Hank

You've probably noticed that I don't generally talk about work or the people I work with very often. the truth is, even stuff like this, I don't really like talking about, because the tasks I perform would probably bore you to sleep. Also, the people I meet, talk to, befriend, you'll never meet, so what's the point?

Well, I'm breaking that trend today to a degree to talk about a guy I met from Payroll. 

Hank comes across as an average guy. Four years my father's junior, which makes him 53, and he has a personality that is as infectious as anyone you would meet at any age. Very personable, very funny, and since I had a few lunches with him, very NOT average.

Hank always complains about the Phillies. I enjoy his complaints, because it makes me feel less whiney when I complain about Philly sports teams, even if in actuality I'm not.

"I came to this side of the building to find the Phillies' win streak and I can't find it. I'll keep looking!" he'd say in passing. "Leave a light on in the basement, because we're gonna be down there a while."

Some of his silly dad-joke-esque complaints about the Phillies would always put me in a better mood.

At work, we have a system where anyone who is logged on to Business Chat can talk to each other. Needless to say, any time the Phillies were doing well or otherwise I'd message Hank.

"Did you see that win last night, Hank!? KEEP THE BASEMENT DOOR OPEN, BECAUSE WE'RE COMING OUT!" I'd exclaim. And then he'd make some let's-come-back-down-from-that-high remark of, "Well, we're gonna need to break the lock, but it's possible!"

Eventually, I decided we should get some lunch together from the cafe downstairs. His story, for me, is pretty incredible. 

He was in the Gulf War from the 80's to the 90's. He was in some pretty horrific battles, and came out alive! He somehow manages to tell these stories with a grin as if he's completely unscathed mentally by it all. He has a wife that he put through school after they got married to become a biologist, and now she's about to start researching with one of the best cancer researchers in the country! He lives by a rule that encompasses his care for other people before himself. He's a gentleman; a scholar in his own right. And now, after only getting to know him over the last couple months, he's leaving. not for just any silly reason either--he's leaving because his wife needs to move out to Kentucky to do that cancer research I mentioned. His wife is a biproduct of his will to make sure other people felt good around him BECAUSE of him.

Today is his last day, and I can't help but feel a little saddened. I hardly knew the guy in actuality, but there's something about people we meet in our lives that make us feel good in stressful moments that make us hope they'll be around for a long time. I know that sounds a bit selfish, and if you've read this far--a sap story in all--you should also know that I'm really happy for him and I've learned a lot from him in the short time that I knew him.

Enough to write a silly blog, anyway.

The point of this: I think it's important to not take advantage of the little connections that we make in our lives. Over the last few years, introspectively, I believe I've done a much better job at this. And a lot of learning has come of it. I also think it's taught me a lot about how I might come across to people I'm hardly around, which makes it that much more important to give them your best, so that they give their best to others! Perhaps a lynch-pin of global change?

Maybe that's a touch too optimistic. *shrugs* But that won't stop be from trying.

- PatInTheHat