The start of a new year is always filled with hope, with expectation, with dreams of good days ahead. I tend to start each new year with a business plan and few personal resolutions. But more than that, I start each new year with visions of my blooming garden in my head. We've just passed the winter solstice; the ground is cold & lifeless, and I'm ready for all things warm & colorful. I think the vision of my blooming garden encompasses more than my itching to dig in the dirt, though. I think it's my mental picture that everything's coming up roses.
But this year, already, we've learned that two of our favorite people are counting their days. And there aren't many left.
One of our favorite aunts - our young & healthy & oh-so-beautiful Auntie Linda - just learned that the pain in her elbow was cancer, and it's not just in her elbow. It's all over. The doctors give her two weeks. Two weeks. Can you imagine??? No, you can't. I can't. I can't imagine how she is dealing with it, nor how I would deal with it if I were her. But Linda - amazing, incredible Linda - is embracing death just as she embraced life. I'm surprised, and yet somehow not surprised, that she is dying just as she lived, in gracious, breath-taking beauty.
And our neighbor - our thoughtful & friendly neighbor - learned that he has Lou Gehrig's disease, just as he celebrated his 50th birthday. The effects of the disease are already pronounced, and he has to retire from his career as a firefighter. Can you imagine??? No, you can't imagine, and neither can I.
We all think we're on the "95 Year Plan". And then one day, we learn we're not. Thank goodness, in the midst of that horrible terrible news, we are surrounded not only by the people who have long loved us, but also by a world of caring strangers.
Today I'd like to raise a toast to that wide assortment of people who have dedicated their lives to caring for folks who are suddenly at the end of theirs. Here's to the doctors & nurses & all the others who extend medical care & human kindness in the most difficult of circumstances. Not just once or twice, but day-in & day-out to countless precious people. Today, you are a gift to two people I love, and I thank you. I wish I could say it more emphatically and with greater eloquence. Thank you, thank you, thank you oh-so-much.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
A Better Banker
Happy New Year!
I'd like to start the year with a story that demonstrates how transformational a thoughtful, caring business can be. And it's not just a business, it's a bank.
Last fall, "Occupy Wall Street" occupied the minds of politicians and policy-makers around the globe. It so resonated with the Average Joe that it spread, like wildfire, across the country and to the capital cities in Europe.
I think "Occupy Wall Street" is a failure as a movement, because it does not clearly identify the problem(s) it opposes or the solution(s) it espouses. Nonetheless, it brings to light the harm that was done by greedy people, both bankers and borrowers, who recklessly collateralized America with subprime loans throughout the early part of the twenty-first century.
Juxtapose Countrywide, Deutche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and the rest with this: New York's smallest bank, the Bank of Cattaraugus, located on Main Street in Cattaraugus, New York.
Recently, the New York Times highlighted the work of Patrick J. Cullen, the Bank of Cattaraugus' president, when he granted mortgage forbearance for a borrower, a bus mechanic, who temporarily lost his job. In his long tenure at the helm of the small-town institution, Mr. Cullen has helped others in need, too.
“They saved our lives,” the New York Times reported of Duane Kelley, a retired Setterstix worker. Mr. Kelley lost his house to a $15,000 tax lien. Mr. Cullen bought the house at a county land auction with the bank’s money. He then returned it to Mr. and Mrs. Kelley. The Kelleys are re-paying the bank through a 15-year loan.
You might think that's highly unusual behavior for a bank president. Yet there are other, similar stories about Cullen and his management of the Bank of Cattaraugus. The stories shared by the New York Times paint a portrait of a powerfully humble - or humbly powerful - Cullen family that cares about their community, their neighbors, their friends. Give it a read. Beautifully written by Alan Feuer, this story will leave you feeling wonderfully good about bankers, businessmen, community leaders.
I can't wait to experience all that 2012 holds for me, because our world is filled with wonderful, beautiful people like Patrick J. Cullen. I wish you all the best as you discover the beauty in 2012, too.
I'd like to start the year with a story that demonstrates how transformational a thoughtful, caring business can be. And it's not just a business, it's a bank.
Last fall, "Occupy Wall Street" occupied the minds of politicians and policy-makers around the globe. It so resonated with the Average Joe that it spread, like wildfire, across the country and to the capital cities in Europe.
Juxtapose Countrywide, Deutche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and the rest with this: New York's smallest bank, the Bank of Cattaraugus, located on Main Street in Cattaraugus, New York.
Recently, the New York Times highlighted the work of Patrick J. Cullen, the Bank of Cattaraugus' president, when he granted mortgage forbearance for a borrower, a bus mechanic, who temporarily lost his job. In his long tenure at the helm of the small-town institution, Mr. Cullen has helped others in need, too.
“They saved our lives,” the New York Times reported of Duane Kelley, a retired Setterstix worker. Mr. Kelley lost his house to a $15,000 tax lien. Mr. Cullen bought the house at a county land auction with the bank’s money. He then returned it to Mr. and Mrs. Kelley. The Kelleys are re-paying the bank through a 15-year loan.
You might think that's highly unusual behavior for a bank president. Yet there are other, similar stories about Cullen and his management of the Bank of Cattaraugus. The stories shared by the New York Times paint a portrait of a powerfully humble - or humbly powerful - Cullen family that cares about their community, their neighbors, their friends. Give it a read. Beautifully written by Alan Feuer, this story will leave you feeling wonderfully good about bankers, businessmen, community leaders.
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I can't wait to experience all that 2012 holds for me, because our world is filled with wonderful, beautiful people like Patrick J. Cullen. I wish you all the best as you discover the beauty in 2012, too.
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