When one of my grandsons was little, he asked me one day if my walk “talk” was as good as my talk “talk.” I thought to myself, “Where did he come up with that?”. It turns out he heard something on television and this was his young interpretation of the phrase, “If you’re going to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk.” For a youngster, that was pretty tall thinking. His question caused me to reflect on the fact a person’s behavior is often better felt by others than what is told to others, and it reminded me of several instances in my life where people “walked the walk.”
Feelings are powerful
We often think of craft workers as being tough talking, tough walking, hard people with few emotions or feelings. But I know differently. Some of the most thoughtful and caring people are in the construction business. I remember when Tropical Storm Allison struck the Gulf Coast in June 2001. At midnight, my family and I were waiting to see what would happen with the rising water and all too soon, we were devastated to see the water rushing onto the slab of our home. Just an hour later, we were standing ankle deep in water before the rain subsided. Everything in the house had to be torn out 48 inches above the foundation including cabinets, wall coverings, appliances and fixtures. We saved what we could but all else was water soaked and ruined. We felt saddened and hopeless.
As soon as I could that morning, I went to get repair and cleanup materials. Upon my return, I was astonished to find a total stranger in my den pulling up water-soaked carpet. It turned out the stranger had recently moved into the house across the street. He was a carpenter who had been laid off from his job. We did not ask him for help; he just came in and did it. My family felt his love and compassion without his uttering a word.
Our house had to be rebuilt, so we moved out for six months. I hired my new neighbor as the project foreman. He was the kind of man who would have done the work for free, but I wanted to return the favor he showed us. He was a carpenter who walked the walk.
The passing of a friend
A construction project employee died after a long battle with a terminal illness. While everyone liked him, no one knew much about him. We later discovered he lived with his elderly parents and had been caring for them for years. He died nearly penniless due to his own massive medical bills and those of his parents. He had no known living family and did not have life or burial insurance. An appeal went out to the project employees and, as expected, they came together like a family and raised enough funds to provide our friend’s funeral and to cover his and his parents’ debts. This man’s fellow employees are not wealthy philanthropists — they work hard to make a living — yet they would, and often do, give the shirts off their backs for their fellow craftsmen and friends. They do it out of shared camaraderie, not for praise, recognition or a tax write off.
Who’s your neighbor?
I used to tell my children you are supposed to love your neighbors. They would say, “But, dad, we don’t have any neighbors except for the old man and woman next door and that military man on the other side of us.” They were correct — only an aged couple and an Army officer lived close by, but they were our neighbors. I used my concrete skills to pour the elderly couple a small sidewalk from their porch to the drive so they would not stumble in the yard. And when the soldier was away on assignment, we mowed his grass. Although these were small acts of kindness, they demonstrated to the children one should be compassionate and caring for one’s neighbors. To jokingly put it, we didn’t just talk the talk, we put concrete on the walk.
How may I serve you?
It’s easy for someone to say they are generous. One can declare their thoughtfulness and care for others yet it’s different when one’s love is genuinely demonstrated. As my young grandson might say, it’s better “felt” than “telt.”
For more information, contact HASC Customer Relations at (281) 476-9900, Ext. 310 or visit www.hasc.com.
