At Your Service by Maggie Inge

When history is made, as is occurring this week, it always marks a new beginning. After such precipitous events, our picture of who we are is changed and the vision of what we might be and accomplish expands to include new possibilities. To paraphrase from one such event: what is a single step for one is a leap for us all.

It has been almost two years in the making and taken us on a journey that will fill pages in future history books. The long campaign will end when the presidential election is decided next week.

During the Fleischmanns First Floor’s house tour on Sunday, someone lamented about the quality of workmanship the once prevailed in the region, as evidenced by the elegant and elaborate woodwork on display. A gentleman quickly responded, “You can still find people to do that quality of work here.” Around the room, heads nodded; but it wasn’t clear on which opinion there was agreement.
In the brief conversation that ensued, I made my own observation. The man defending the area’s workforce was impeccably dressed and had an air of perfection about him. He appeared to be the kind of person who would never settle for less than the best and I could not imagine working for him and delivering anything that was substandard.

Approaching the door, I could see through the window and tell from the look on the face of the man behind the counter that this was the place I had heard about. The wares being sold were a perfect representation of the kinds of goods once sold everywhere: bolts of fabric lined up like soldiers against the wall and everything else was positioned for easy viewing. Despite the chill in the air and the frost on the economy, the man’s face was the picture of calm, secured in place by a smile.

When I logged on to file the column that I had written for this week, I received the disturbing news that Congress did not pass what is commonly referred to as the “bail out bill.” While I know more than many about the workings of Wall Street, everything I know is not enough to understand the complexities of the need for this legislation. So, I do not have an opinion on whether it is the right or wrong thing for our government to do.

He’s 97 years old and every day he visits his wife of 72 years in the nursing home. He took care of her at home until she needed more than he could provide. “We did it all together; it is so hard to go on without her by my side,” he says. His visits are as close as they can get to being together again. So, given the choice, he chooses to buy the gas for the trip rather than eat three meals a day.

This fall on television begins the last season of the long-term hit series "ER," the show that brought us George Clooney and nonstop action in a metropolitan emergency room. A visit to our own MMH ER tells a similar yet very different story and gave me the chance to meet some local stars.

Dreams are the lofty stuff of which futures are made. As we humans aspire to improve our lot on this earth, we envision that which is beyond our reality and call it our dreams. For the last couple of centuries, this country has been the source of dreams for millions of people.
The yearning for religious freedom carried British and Dutch subjects over hazardous waters to these shores. As settlements were established, other Europeans followed their dreams to this land. When the ties to their nations of origin became oppressive, they fought for independence, declaring themselves to be The United States of America. In the proclamation that declared their intentions, they wrote that it was a self-evident truth that “all men are created equal.”

In these weeks that are ending and just before us, we are being treated to a great deal of spectacle. The Olympics in Beijing included the most elaborate opening and closing ceremonies ever conceived, sandwiching incredible accomplishments by athletes from many nations. Ahead are the Democratic and Republican conventions where dynamic speeches and rhetoric will be enhanced by wide screen presentations and other tech-based fanfare.

The Summer Olympics fill the airways and stoke our dreams. Beijing has gone all out to produce a spectacle that is a harbinger of things to come from host country, China. It is a national “coming out party” befitting the most beautiful of debutantes.