Answering An Important Call

When a friend of mine announced last year that he was running for the legislature, he was surprised at first by the reaction from people. He expected a few pats on the back. Maybe a couple, “Atta boys.”

But most people -- friends, co-workers, even service club members -- said something quite different. “Why the heck do you want to do something like that? Are you crazy?”

I’m wasn’t too surprised by this response. Legislators are easy targets for criticism, especially during the session. People like to highlight frivolous bills to represent the work of the group as a whole. “Why are they wasting time selecting a state fruit?” critics grumbled last session. “Don’t they have more important things to do?”

Another favorite, “Rather than meeting for 80 days every two years, they should meet for two days every 80 years.” The crowd roars. Heads nod in agreement.

I have a different perspective. For almost 15 years, I’ve been ringside at our state’s legislative process – working for the governor, the legislature or as a lobbyist. I’ve been in public hearings and closed door meetings alike.

I don’t see a bunch of men and women bumbling dumbly through the process, milking the system for freebees and health benefits, or maneuvering laws to benefit themselves. I can’t honestly think of one such example.

Rather, I see 141 normal North Dakotans -- dads, moms, grandparents, farmers, business people and young professionals. People with families, careers and hobbies who somehow manage to extract themselves from their real lives to devote nearly four straight months to lawmaking.

Their days begin early, frequently end late and in between they live, eat and breathe policy, politics and potato skins. People line up to talk to them in the halls of the capitol, outside hearing rooms, at their desks, or through their computer, phone and mail.

Unlike many states, our citizen lawmakers act on every single piece of legislation introduced. Last session, that was nearly 950 bills including the state fruit initiative started by high school students as a way to learn about the legislative process.

I love the fact that in North Dakota anyone who wants to change our laws can try to by simply finding a legislator to introduce a bill. Every idea gets a fair hearing and a vote. No one sits at the gate and says, “This is a good bill, we’ll talk about that. But you there with the dumb idea, that one won’t be heard in my committee.”

Legislators are personal spokespeople for us in our self-governing process. They set policies that have significant consequences on life as we know it -- like whether we can drive and talk on a cell phone at the same time.

And they walk line-by-line through thousands of pages of the state budget that funds 73 agencies and all of our vital services. Want to see what’s involved in this? Sit in on an appropriations hearing for a day -- or even an hour. (Be sure to bring coffee, or Red Bull.)

In return for their work, North Dakota’s part-time legislators receive about $13,500/year plus health insurance. Taxpayers also cover room and board for legislators while they are in session. Not a pittance, but certainly not outrageous. Minnesota legislators earn twice as much. South Dakota about the same.

In California, legislators receive $110,000 year, a free car and nearly $150 per day for expenses.

At the opening of this year’s session, the Jamestown High School choir sang a beautiful song that paid tribute to those who “answer freedom’s call so freedom’s cry will still stay strong.”

Listening to the lyrics, images of soldiers and veterans came to mind. But as I looked around the legislative chambers at the people serving as our representatives, I realized they too had answered freedom’s call. Often, like in the case of my friend, without a lot of public support or encouragement.

Our legislators and the laws they pass aren’t perfect, and the process can be ugly. But the final product has been serving North Dakotans pretty well. Maybe these folks are a little crazy, but I’m sure thankful they are answering this call.

Looking for Lean New Year

This fall, I learned a concept that I knew immediately would be my 2009 New Year’s resolution. It’s called Lean Manufacturing, and it’s about seeking and employing small but continuous improvements to make production systems more efficient.

Lean manufacturing stems from a Japanese word and philosophy called Kaizan, which means continuous improvement. Japanese companies, led by Toyota, have been employing this philosophy since the 1950s and essentially driven American automakers to bankruptcy. (Perhaps you’ve noticed this in the news.)

This is intriguing testimony about the usefulness of Kaizan. A study comparing the improvement programs of Japanese versus American companies showed that in Japan, about 75 percent of employees participate in continuous improvement programs generating 37 ideas each on average. About 88 percent of these ideas are adopted, saving $126 per idea.

In the U.S., only 9 percent of employees surveyed participated in improvement programs, generating just .12 ideas per employee. Only 32 percent of these ideas were adopted. But each of them generated more than $6,000 in savings.

Impressive -- we are Americans afterall. We generate big, important ideas.

Not really. Even with our significant cost savings per idea, Japan blows us away with overall net savings per 100 employees of $422,000 compared to under $23,000 for every 100 U.S. employees.

Now, you might be wondering how lean manufacturing principles used by Japanese automakers relate to my New Year’s Resolution? I admit, it’s a bit of a stretch since I’ve never really manufactured anything except three meals a day, some unsightly crafts and, with heavy lifting from above, three children.

But one element of Kaizan appeals to me. The mantra states that small changes employed continuously add up to big savings.

The key word for me is small. Small changes -- I can do that. Don’t ask me to keep my kids’ faces clean or Legos and Bionicles separate. But, I can sort mail in the office rather than the kitchen. I can organize my closet according to color, and I can even give each child a specific hook for hanging their coat.

Every house has hundreds of systems in place. Often they develop by default, with little thought about purpose or efficiency, allowing us to function clumsily at best. Why do I keep all my cleaning rags on our top floor and the cleaning products someplace else? Why is mosquito repellent stored inside rather than out where the mosquitoes bite?

With a little effort, I’m certain I can improve the way we operate. As “LeanSpeak – The Productivity Business Improvement Dictionary” states, daily improvement in small amounts carried out in every job and function of the business (or home in this case) eventually accumulates into very large gains.

The end result might not save us a bunch of money, but saving time, frustration or stress even in small amounts will be a very large gain for this family.

Wishing you a happy (and lean) New Year.

Fighting for the Christmas Spirit

Fighting for the Christmas Spirit

Last year, Christmas got the best of me and I vowed never to repeat that frazzled state of affairs. So, this year, I had a plan for managing the craziness and keeping true to the stillness and reflection that are suppose to characterize the advent season.

I began implementing the plan – Operation Christmas Spirit -- last January. By mid-November I already had a stack of Christmas presents wrapped, quite beautifully I thought.

For the first part of this month, I listened smugly to others complain about their endless lists of things to do while I went sledding with my kids and calmly decorated the house.

But last week, my Christmas Spirit plan began to fray. The first threads appeared while we were braiding, one-by-one, candy cane cookies that looked adorable on Food Network but tasted like toothpaste.

Christmas lights further undermined “Operation Christmas Spirit.” I untangled and eventually threw away an entire tub of half-working or completely dark lights. After hours of struggling with wires and bulbs, I wound the strands of working lights around some the garland on our porch, and then lined up the kids to watch me turn them on.

Instead of cheers I heard groans of disappointment. Only half the lights lit. I had knocked one of the more than 300 little buggers loose. Someday I want to meet the Chinese engineer who designed Christmas lights. Clearly, they are a big joke on Americans.

Christmas lights are like kryptonite for the Christmas spirit. So are things like:

· The Chipmunks Christmas CD played on a continuous loop.

· Children who “order” extravagant (expensive) gifts from Santa because they are free.

· Ads that count down the remaining shopping or shipping days beginning in September.

· And presents purchased in advance that can not be found in their clever hiding place.

Christmas, for women, is almost universally a challenging and stressful time. In addition to our normal duties we attempt to:

• Redecorate our homes.
• Buy (or make) presents for family, friends, neighbors, teachers, service providers, clients, co-workers and needy children.
• Send cards with adorable pictures to everyone we’ve ever met and want to remain in contact with.
• Fill our homes with fancy, home-baked sweets.

“Operation Christmas Spirit” has been a revealing effort. I’ve had to fight harder than I expected to maintain calm and good cheer. There are many forces working against it -- most of them our own making.

We’ve turned the simplicity of that first Christmas upside down and transformed the advent season into a series of tasks -- things to check off rather than experience.

In the final week before Christmas, my plan needs to be fortified. It’s time to scale back the Martha Stewart expectations and refocus on the humility and faith of the Holy Family -- the real source of Christmas spirit.

Have a beautiful and peaceful Christmas. May your Christmas lights burn bright.

Free Play: Batteries Not Necessary

My friend was attempting to wrestle her three young children out the door for swimming lessons. She held her toddler on one hip while trying, rather unsuccessfully, to direct her other kids into their coats.

I would have helped but I was corralling my own kids to our car for guitar lessons.

As we exchanged exasperated looks, I blurted out the one thought popped into my mind, “Our moms did not do this.”

Actually, they did few of the activities that are common place for today’s parents. No pre-school at age three, music lessons for infants or all-day kindergarten. No swimming lessons for diaper-wearing babies or Itty Bitty anything.

Instead I cruised around with neighborhood friends, immersed in a world of make-believe games like “house on bikes” where our block was our city, our bikes were our cars and each house was a different store or location.

When I was bored or unruly, my parents usually offered two choices. Go outside or get to work. Today, parents have an entirely different box of tools: Nickelodeon, Nintendo, Wii, Webkinz, structured activities like sports and lessons and super stores brimming with passive toys that come with pre-written scripts.

A report last year from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) takes a hard look at today’s child-rearing practices and concludes that unstructured playtime for American children is seriously suffering. A variety of causes are to blame -- changing family structures, passive toys, increasing pressure for kids to perform, and education policies that have led to less recess and phy ed in many schools.

Author Kenneth R. Ginsburg, MD, says free play is vital in developing strong parent-child bonds and well-adjusted children. It helps children develop socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively and teaches them how to manage stress, solve problems and get along with others.

And I thought we were just having fun.

Authors were careful to note that organized activities have many benefits, but said it’s unclear when a child (or mom, I might add) may be “overscheduled” to their detriment, leading to anxiety, depression and other things that have no place in childhood.

Personally, I wish organized sports didn’t start so young. I love athletics, but right now my kids are perfectly satisfied with a shovel and snow bank. I hate to give that up and our limited family time when they are so young.

But if we wait too long, our kids will be too far behind to play some sports. This is the “treadmill” that Ginsburg said parents struggle to step off.

“The downtime that allows parents and children some of the most productive time for interaction is at a premium when schedules become highly packed with adult-supervised or adult-driven activities,” Ginsburg cautions.

These highly packed schedules have another downside. It takes away some of the pleasures of parenting. Hussling kids to and fro, in and out of cars and car seats isn’t a fun way to spend time with your family.

Obviously, times have changed. Most parents are employed now, and children can’t safely roam about town like I did as a child. Still, there are plenty of steps we can take to provide balance and room for free play. Here are some ideas from the AAP:

• Play and family togetherness are tried, trusted, and traditional methods of promoting success and happiness in children. Ignore messages that suggest otherwise.
• Chose “true toys”, such as blocks and dolls, in which children use their imagination fully.
• Read to your children, even at young ages.
• Allow children to explore a variety of interests in a balanced way without feeling pressured to excel at all of them.
• Seek a balanced schedule based on each child’s unique needs, skills, and temperament.
• Choose child care and early education programs that offer more than “academic preparedness.”

The website www.playborhood.com offers a wide variety of insights on this subject. The material was worth considering prior to Christmas shopping for my kids. Pass by the “baby Einstein” videos and reach instead for books, blocks and other battery-free classics.

Now excuse me. I have some shovels and gloves to wrap for two little warriors who are plotting a snowball attack on bad guys across the street.

Thank You America

I attended my daughter’s kindergarten class recently and filled up with tears as the chorus of young voices boldly recited the Pledge of Allegiance, “And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Liberty and justice for all. What awesome ideals.

I’ve been a unabashed patriot for a long time. I can’t sing any patriotic ballads without choking up. In high school, my basketball team blasted Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” as pre-game locker room pep music. This was 15 years before 9-11 made the song famous and popular.

So I’ve really struggled to accept news in recent years about Americans being “hated” by the world for being arrogant, greedy, spoiled and any number of offensive qualities. This theme is so prevalent in news I believe it has noticeably dampened the collective American spirit.

Recently, however, the flame of American pride that is smoldering in even the most diehard patriots has received a burst of needed oxygen from a most unlikely source: a Frenchman! That’s hard to imagine considering just three years ago all references to “French” were removed from the menu at our nation’s capital. But, it’s true, America has an expressive and eloquent admirer in the new French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

His recent historic speech to a joint session of Congress was a valuable reminder of what the United States represents to the rest of world.

“America did not teach men the idea of freedom; she taught them how to practice it,” he said. “And she fought for this freedom whenever she felt it to be threatened somewhere in the world. It was by watching America grow that men and women understood that freedom was possible.”

President Sarkozy reminded Americans how we saved France in World War I and II and how thousands of young American soldiers marched to their death on the beaches of France “not to defend their own freedom but the freedom of all others, not to defend their own families, their own homeland, but to defend humanity as a whole.”

He sited the Marshall Plan, the Cold War, and the Berlin Crisis as ways in which America, at countless key moments in history, has led the world in the fight for freedom.

“From the very beginning, the American dream meant proving to all mankind that freedom, justice, human rights and democracy were no utopia but were rather the most realistic policy there is and the most likely to improve the fate of each and every person.

“America did not tell the millions of men and women who came from every country in the world and who—with their hands, their intelligence and their heart -- built the greatest nation in the world: ‘Come, and everything will be given to you.’ She said: ‘Come, and the only limits to what you'll be able to achieve will be your own courage and your own talent.’ America embodies this extraordinary ability to grant each and every person a second chance,” Sarkozy declared.

I’ve been struck of late by a realization that virtually all the blessings for which I am most grateful, save God himself, are made possible by the freedom I enjoy as an American. Without this, my family and I could not live, work or worship where we chose. Our economic stability would be threatened. Our access to health care choices jeopardized, even our decision to freely bear children could be taken from us.

So, while I’m humbled by countless blessings this Thanksgiving, I am most grateful for the gift of America.

Timeless Wisdom from Mr. Rogers

More often than I care to admit, Sunday mornings find me fuming in our car, steaming mad at my family. In the process of getting ready for church, I usually blow my gasket at least once at an uncooperative child (or husband). We squeal down the street to worship, five minutes later than we should be leaving with very unholy thoughts about each other on our minds.

Scenes like this gave birth to the phrase, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Perhaps it’s the way my daughter can emulate with perfect pitch my most unpleasant voice as she scolds her brothers for this or that minor infraction. Or maybe it’s the fact that my five year old stood at the door last week putting on his coat and declared with utter frustration, “This d#%* zipper.”

Fred Rogers said it best, “We speak with more than our mouths. We listen with more than our ears.”

Parenting probably offers the most brutal lessons in this truism, but Mr. Roger’s wisdom applies to everyone, in all settings -- the cheerful waiter serving coffee, the brusque doctor making rounds, the friendly teenager teaching little kids to skate.

Even perfect strangers on the street can communicate without talking, like the woman I see running around my neighborhood every morning. Some days I pass her as a fellow jogger. Most often, regrettably, I watch her through the windows of my car.

She’s notable for several reasons. She’s incredibly consistent. She’s very fit -- thin and muscular. And, she’s probably pushing 70 years old.

She passed one day when I was talking to a friend. “That woman makes me feel guilty,” my friend confessed. I’ve felt the same way a time or two when I’ve glimpsed her gliding by as I peered over the rim of my grande brew with extra cream.

But generally, her affect on me has been positive. The only word we’ve ever exchanged is “hello” and yet I’ve caught myself thinking about this dedicated jogger when I’m trying to justify going back to sleep instead of exercising.

I’m sure she has no idea the example she is setting for people she has never met just by getting up every morning to jog. I don’t even know her name, yet she has prompted me out of bed at dawn to workout.

Everyday, our actions send powerful messages to people around us. They describe our values and priorities, what we believe and cherish. I scan my current “to-do” list.

Hang Christmas lights. Pay bills. Respond to email. Fix drawers. Write news release.

My actions are talking and some important people in my life are listening closely with their eyes. What are they hearing?

I ponder the list. The things I hold most dear are poorly represented, yet it’s my list. I wrote it. What’s missing? What should be first? What can come off?

I add a few new things to the top, scratch off the tasks that can wait, and end with some final thoughts: Get up earlier for church. Quit saying “d#%*.”

60 Minutes of Solitude

This fall, I did something I will remember all winter. Two of my kids were playing with friends and my youngest child had fallen asleep in the car on our after school dash. The weather was beautiful, so I left him sleeping in the car with the windows down and perched myself nearby on our porch with my laptop.

I was ready to use these unexpected free moments for productive purposes. But after about 10 minutes, I was so relaxed and drowsy I could hardly stay awake. “Maybe I’ll just rest for a minute,” I thought. Then I leaned over, curled up and fell asleep in the sun.

As I laid there soaking in what could have been the last warm rays of the season, I remember thinking I had never been so perfectly comfortable. The sky was royal blue and cloudless. The neighborhood was quiet. A soft breeze was just enough to keep the sun from becoming hot.

I’ve always thought if I could be any animal, I’d be an eagle. Perhaps I’ve overlooked the benefits of life as a cat.

Sadly, this was an indulgent act for me, as it would be for most American adults. Yet I am so glad I allowed myself to enjoy it. I can’t recall anything about the computer work I neglected in exchange for that catnap. But I vividly remember the peace, solitude and warmth of those 60 quiet minutes in the sun.

I felt a bit like Frederick the field mouse from the children’s book. His family works day and night to gather corn and nuts and straw for the winter. But not Frederick. He stares into the pretty meadow.

“Why don’t you work Frederick,” his family says reproachfully.

“I do work,” he insists, and then relates how he’s soaking in sun rays for cold dark winter days, gathering colors from the meadow because winter is gray, and gathering words to share on long winter days when all of them have run out of things to say.

When the snow begins to fall, the field mice are content at first. They have plenty of food to eat and stories to share. But as winter drags on, their supplies dwindle. They become cold and quiet. Then they remember Frederick.

“What about your supplies Frederick?” they ask. Frederick, true to his promise, is eager to share his plentiful stores. He tells them to shut their eyes and relates in vivid detail the feeling of the warm sun and the look of the colorful meadow. His words and poetry carry them through the remaining hard days of winter.

We ought to take a cue from Frederick. Work is important, of course. But rather than always running busily through our days, rushing through work and errands and home life, we ought to allow ourselves to pause and appreciate the gifts of the present more often. To enjoy the smell or feel of the air, the beauty of a pink striped sunrise, the taste of our food or maybe the feeling of our child’s cheek or spouse’s hand.

I asked my kids last night to tell me something fun that happened to them that day. My three-year-old thought about this for a few seconds. As his dark brown eyes looked at me intently I wondered if he would just copy the response of one of his older siblings.

But his eyes twinkled when he settled on his decision. “Eating TWO pieces of candy,” he declared, the smile on his face clearly reflecting his delight with this simple, fun memory.

I hope you pause today and everyday to feel the sun on your face, to savor some candy or to recognize whatever simple gifts comes your way.