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Let’s Hear it for Bob!

The Source

Let’s Hear it for Bob! You know Bob. Oh, you may call him Carl or John or Henry or Maryjane, but you know him. He lives on your block or maybe she’s got that house on the other end of the street. No, don’t look out the window for him now. He’s either at work or at a meeting. Bob goes to a lot of meetings. While a good many of his neighbors sit at home and complain about the way the streets are maintained, the colors of the school’s basketball uniforms, the condition of the city parks or the homeless on the streets, Bob is attending a meeting on how to fix these things. Bob (or maybe his name is Jeff or Louise or Marcy) has only one real fault and that’s his diet. Bob doesn’t eat well. More often that not he’s forced to grab a quick sandwich as he drives to a noontime meeting and by the time he leaves work at night then attends a 6 p.m. committee meeting of the Kiwanis or Ambucs or Elks or Rotary or American Legion it’s long past suppertime when he returns home to eat something warmed up from hours ago. It’s not like Bob (or Jack or Mike or Janet) enjoys serving on committees, but he knows that someone has to get these things done so he does them. In fact, the myriad of meetings wears him out and some of them bore him to death, but in each case he’s setting a church budget, planning a fundraiser for needy kids, deciding on how much pancake mix it’ll take to serve 3000 people or reading scholarship applications. Bob (or Pete or Susan or Jan) isn’t paid for any of this. Once in a blue moon an organization will offer mileage then Bob (or Harry or Ella or Nancy) will end up donating twice that amount back to the sponsoring organization. In financial terms every organization he joins costs him money, but Bob (or Verna or Will) was raised to think that we all have a civic duty to keep our community safe, to help it grow, and to generally make it a pleasant place to live. He usually drops into bed late at night but it never occurs to him to say no to a worthwhile cause. “It’s just something a person ought to do,” he says. Bob’s wife (or Patty’s husband) is understanding and after all their years of marriage she (or he) has gotten used to being married to a spouse who spends so much time volunteering spare hours. In fact, Bob’s wife (or Abby’s husband) is equally tied up in her own volunteer work. They seldom end up on the same committee but they get to nod at each other at breakfast and case there’s a big snowstorm they might actually get to eat an evening meal together. The only really tough part about Bob’s (or Harriet’s or Tom’s) life is listening to his Jacksonville friends grouse and gripe about how the world is going without making any effort to change things for the better. He sometimes wonders if there’s any use spending so much of his spare time working for the community when so many seem to do so little. When he asks them why they don’t take an active part in the community they tell him they’re too busy. He sees the lights of the TV sets shining through their curtains as he returns late at night from a service meeting and simply sighs. There will never be a building named after Bob (or Ned or Keri) because he’s not been able to be much of a financial donor, but if they ever list the names responsible for dollars collected, hours worked, doors knocked upon or calls made supporting a local cause, his name will lead the list. Although there’s not much material reward for what he does, it’s been a source of pride for Bob (or Lou or Patsy or Brenda) to see his kids adopt his serving ways. When he occasionally complains that they don’t visit often enough they kiddingly remind him that they’re busy frying hotdogs to raise money for a service mission or volunteering to park cars for a benefit concert. They say, “Dad, you started this,” and Bob (or Rob or Alice) smiles and says, “I suppose so.” And believe it or not, some people think Bob (or Carol or Herb) should do more and they’re hugely disappointed when he tells them that he has no Tuesday nights left in his schedule to help them with their project. After all, their project is more important than all the others. Bob sighs again. There’s lots to cheer about in our world and community. . . our local basketball team, our choice of candidates, our choice among the professional football teams, but just occasionally, just for the heck of it, just to keep him doing the work we’d rather not do ourselves, let’s hear it for Bob! (or Mark! or Phil! or Beth!)