The Sunshine Guy

05/28/2008

Paul Munnis


When I was in the military I found that successful units had a very special person in their unit that was a true gift to mankind.

This person laughed joked, poked, prodded, kidded, and kept people laughing and joking so that they would forget their troubles and just move on practically dancing through the work and enjoying being on the job. They loved being in one another's company.

To be in the light of these personalities was to be on the Riveria -- a sandy sunshine beach of the human spirit.

I remember one aircraft engine mechanic who would service our planes and kid the others that he could do his job with one hand tied behind his back and get more useful work done that another worker who was younger, slower, less experienced and more inept.

Soon a race was proposed. The experienced mechanic had one hand tied behind his back and the job at hand was to strip two aircraft engines for internal inspection.

The race began, bets were made and taken, some of the tasks were really two handed tasks like lifting off heavy covers or holding a part in place while a bolt was given a torque setting; no matter -- the one handed mechanic managed them all with deftness. You could see that he had been practicing for this race.

As he worked away the other mechanic who had been challenged sucked his stomach in and started to work just as hard as he could and he found quickly that he had to work smarter. Soon he was keeping time with the one handed guy and the one handed guy keep teasing him – surely he could beat a mechanic with one hand tied behind him…

The one handed guy won, but not by much. The younger mechanic had proved something to himself and the whole unit realized that they could do a lot more if they just had the right attitude.

The good will from that contest lasted for a long time and the team delighted in working together. They were convinced that nobody could beat them or was better than they were.

We Americans need to set aside our troubles if we can and start having fun again. We have only 165 days before the election. Once it’s over Bush and his gang will be gone. Then we will have a chance to shine and see what we can do to make America a bigger, better, stronger nation -- a nation where we can trust that we are not being lied to or manipulated.

Resolve to be the sunshine guy and help lift one another’s spirits. A little hand up can go a long way to enjoying quality of life even though the work is hard, the hours long, others may start out negative. You can do this with one hand tied behind you if you want to.

Give our local DFL Caucus a hand with signs, door knocking, envelope stuffing, phone banking, and do it all with a sense of fun and humor.

We can win this election with one hand tied behind us.