Just Who Are You to Say?

The less-than-polite title might be something like, “Who the F*** Are YOU to tell me what to do or think?”

Imagine for a moment, you’re worried about a mysterious physical ailment.  You ask two people about it.  First, John Doe, your neighborhood landscaping specialist.  He’s great.  He tells you so; you even agree – at least about landscaping, that is.  He offers his opinions.  Then there’s Dr. Bill Smith BS, MS, MD.  He cites scientific studies, even discusses any controversial conclusions.  He weighs the pros & cons with you, gives his best opinion about the relative risks of your various options.

Whom do you trust more?  Hopefully, the person with relevant education, training, experience, and knowledge.  Experience counts, doesn’t it?

Okay, now imagine that you want to make a financial investment.  Again, two people to ask.  John Doe, Jr., seems to have the same professional qualifications as Bill Smith, Jr.  So, now what?

Information about John’s character seems quite literally to be a blank slate.  But he proclaims, “You can trust me.”  (Tellingly, he glares when you dare to question his assertion.)

On the other hand, Bill seems to have a long history of community service.  Sometimes colleagues offer testimonials.  But many other activities aren’t even touted by Bill himself.  Furthermore, none of Bill’s voluntary service is related to his finanical services offerings.  Indeed. none of them seem to be self-serving in any way.  They are just things that he did – and does – for others in need.  More than that, his leisure time is devoted to self-improvement: a well-rounded reading list, inquiries about the world around him, and such.

Again, whom do you trust more?  Hopefully, character counts.

Stop for a moment. Would you agree, at least in principle, that both experience (i.e., professional qualifications) and character count?  If not, don’t bother reading any further.

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All that (above) to get to this:

Last week I prefaced my terse but critical remark about a public figure with, “I'm a retired veteran, enlisted Army & commissioned Air Force, with service in Vietnam, intelligence background (among my FIVE specialties).”  I didn’t elaborate on the 20-year span of my military service.  (I could – sometime, somewhere else.)

I also didn’t recount the other 20+ years of my professional service, largely devoted to national defense, and culminating in technical consulting to one of our national laboratories.

However, I will briefly touch on my more than 40 years of volunteer public service, as well as my efforts to broaden my perspective.  There have been so many diverse commitments that I can barely remember the highlights – and even then, only their general sequence and approximate durations.  (I have three full-size file cabinets full of documentation, but who cares?) My adult life has been an unintended journey of service & sacrifice.

I began with refugee resettlement: housing, jobs, cultural assimilation, language tutoring.  Speaking of languages, while I’m not fluent in any at this point, over the years I’ve studied German, Vietnamese, Spanish, Russian, and Portuguese – three of them at once for a short time.  I’ve also made a valiant effort at Georgian and Arabic, both of which I hope to resume soon.

My public service continues today with a deep involvement – two years already – in community & police safety initiatives here in Albuquerque.  I expect to be serving on one of the Community Policing Councils sometime soon.  On top of that, for several months now, I’ve been volunteering at the Presbyterian Hospital “Child Life” program, tending to the most fragile of babies in their newborn intensive care unit.

In between, my service has ranged from crisis intervention & suicide prevention to arts & education:

• Five years on HelpLine, a suicide prevention service.  One year as training director, another year as public relations director.
• One year volunteering for the Court-Appointed Special Advocate, investigating child abuse & neglect cases.
• Parent representative on numerous panels, forums, working groups, and community organizations in the public schools; continued serving for five years after my youngest son had graduated.
• Five years of mediation & public meeting faciliation in the Albuquerque Metro Court, parent-teen organization, and elsewhere. Served one year on the New Mexico Mediation Association Board.
• Edited numerous newsletters and two magazine columns, including a “high IQ” organization (not the only that I qualified for, by the way).
• Long-time advocate for fatherhood organizations & initiatives; producer of 75 cable TV programs on related issues.
• Ten years & various responsibilities on two different food distribution programs for low income families.
• Speaker, moderator, and/or organizer for conferences on parental communication, men’s issues, childhood cancer, and crisis intervention (1st Intermountain Conference on Crisis Intervention).
• Variety of positions in the Albuquerque Youth Symphony program, as well as allied music activities in the public schools.
• Membership chair (five years) for the New Mexico Internet Professionals Association; one year on the Board of Directors.  Testified to the NM legislature and regulatory panels on telecommunications and Internet issues.
• Registered organ donor since 1975.  Registered marrow donor since 1990.  Regular blood donor since 1990; monthly donations since (at least) 2005.

I suppose there are a few people out there who’d still question my professional qualifications & character and my ability to offer a balanced, informed opinion.  Meh!

Copyright © 2016-08-08, Mike Kruchoski, All Rights Reserved