June 29, 2008. Chevy Chase, Md. Rich and Famous

Kate and Mary Frances know I write this small web log. Not so long ago at the farm, one of them asked me if, because I blog, was I rich and famous? Of course I responded to them that I was neither rich nor famous, that the only thing I every wanted to do was to pay my bills and to do a good job of whatever I was doing in order to pay my bills. Then the discussion evolved about the rich. Every one at the table decided that being rich would be fine, except if being rich meant you would always be worried about the money being lost in the stock market or stolen. But being rich was certainly OK with the group at the lunch table. Not so for the famous. No one wanted to be famous. Even the girls, who are 8 and 11, could see that being famous is a big nuisance.. They mentioned dining out in the restaurant and being asked for your signature, or having your picture taken while going to a movie. No one at the table had any interest in being famous, and for good reason. All your life is public. So now the girls wanted to know if the two always go together, in other words, are all famous people rich? We all said " no". Lots of folks are famous but not rich, and certainly not all rich people are famous. But we all decided , the favorite position to be would be rich but not famous.

I have very little regard for those folks who crave the limelight. Just do a good job and make your contribution to what ever your talents allow you to do, and the world will acknowledge your worth. I may be naive or stupid, but the same is true for political positions at any level. If the able people take turns at running any organization, all will be well. My position as a Manager is not better or harder than being an agent. It is just different. When I was asked in 1987 to take the position, my thought was, " well, If I do not take the job, who will be the Manager? ". As an agent in the office, I waned someone in charge who would be sure to keep the drawers full of forms, so I said yes to the job. The same is true for running the Trade organizations and Associations. Not for the glory or the prestige, but just to take your turn. At work, the agents and the Managers are often thought of as humble people. This is not accurate. We do not brag but we are proud. But we are certainly not famous. Now even if we were rich we would continue our hard work on behalf of our Buyers and Sellers. Maybe!!.