Help
Sign In
decisions
February 2009 
Letter to the mother of my service technician.
Posted on May 30th, 2008
by 
wrensis
wrensis
I met your son today. He was sent out on a service call to intstall a new product. During the course of the installation we talked to pass the time. We exchanged views on a number of subjects including race, unions, elections, health benefits, and family. The conversation just seemed to flow from one issue to the other without any discomfort or guarding of words. It was a wonderful experience for me, and I think he was equally pleased we talked. I told him frankly that he had provided me with a sense of hope that his generation is well equipped to handle the messes we are leaving them.
He said he and his mother had been estranged for about three years. Apparently she took it poorly that he had gotten a girl pregnant and married. Her disapproval was swift and painful and she cut him out of her life totally. He sends pictures of the child that he secretly knows she would love.
I would like to be able to talk to his mother. I would tell her he has a wife and a three year old that he clearly adores. He supports his family by working hard and doing his job . He is well informed, takes his responsibility as an American seriously and is grateful that he works where he is given full medical benefits. He is amazed at what his union is able to accomplish for him and his co-workers, but is unhappy when they got a job back for someone who deserved to be fired. "It reflects poorly on all of us" to permit that behavior.
I want to tell his mother he is a genuinely good person and she is missing the joy and pride that seeing a grown child can bring. I hope she sees that her intense involvment with her job and her morals are never going to replace the relationship she has chosen to end.
I was to proud to have had the opportunity to be even a short hour of his life.
It reminds me of something the Dalai Lama said " never miss an opportunity to talk to anyone"
I took that opportunity today, I hope someday soon she will find the door and walk thru the joy of knowing a really fine, good person who is someone to be proud of .
He said he and his mother had been estranged for about three years. Apparently she took it poorly that he had gotten a girl pregnant and married. Her disapproval was swift and painful and she cut him out of her life totally. He sends pictures of the child that he secretly knows she would love.
I would like to be able to talk to his mother. I would tell her he has a wife and a three year old that he clearly adores. He supports his family by working hard and doing his job . He is well informed, takes his responsibility as an American seriously and is grateful that he works where he is given full medical benefits. He is amazed at what his union is able to accomplish for him and his co-workers, but is unhappy when they got a job back for someone who deserved to be fired. "It reflects poorly on all of us" to permit that behavior.
I want to tell his mother he is a genuinely good person and she is missing the joy and pride that seeing a grown child can bring. I hope she sees that her intense involvment with her job and her morals are never going to replace the relationship she has chosen to end.
I was to proud to have had the opportunity to be even a short hour of his life.
It reminds me of something the Dalai Lama said " never miss an opportunity to talk to anyone"
I took that opportunity today, I hope someday soon she will find the door and walk thru the joy of knowing a really fine, good person who is someone to be proud of .
Access: Public
