November 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 56

Kenny Karst Photography

Jeff Warner Photography

WORK WE DO

Eric Blehm

Our Attitude Toward Our Work
There's an old parable about three
stonecutters who each were asked the
same question: " What are you doing? "
The first stonecutter replied, " I'm cutting stone. " The second answered, " I
am a stonecutter and I am cutting stones
to earn money to support my family. "
The third replied, " I am a stonecutter
and I am building a cathedral! "
Whether we are groundskeepers
in Florida, playground supervisors in
California, recreation programmers in
Texas, or Morale, Welfare, and Recreation specialists overseas, what really
matters is the attitude we bring to our
work. How do we approach the work
we do? Is it a job, a career, or a calling?
It is the attitude we bring that will most
influence the impact of the work we do.
The Impact of the Work We Do
We cannot predict if and when the
little things we do or say will have big
impacts later on. But, the science of
Chaos Theory teaches us that such impacts will happen. Popularized as " The
Butterfly Effect, " Chaos Theory has
proven scientifically that little things do
matter. But because we cannot predict
if and when they will matter, we must
proceed largely on faith that an encouraging word here, a small deed there,
may have a monumental impact some54 Parks & Recreation

Scott Gediman

where down the road.
Each and every one of us cannot
help but make a difference in the
course of human events. Whether
we serve up for our constituencies
what they want or what we think
they ought to want, we are each in
our own way contributing to the unfolding of the future. Through acts
of commission and omission, we are
bound to have an impact.
Looking back at my early years as
a college professor at San Diego State
University, there are two instances
that illustrate that little things matter,
because they sometimes lead to very
big impacts. The first occurred sometime in the late 1970s when a young
man and his father from North Hollywood, California, dropped by my
office to discuss the young man's future. His siblings were all intellectually gifted and on their way to becoming doctors, lawyers and accountants,
but Scott, unlike his brothers and
sisters, was neither an intellectual nor
partial to book learning. His father
wondered if parks and recreation
might be a good college major for
him, and, after our brief conversation, I concluded, matter-of-factly,
that parks and recreation might be a
good fit.
Scott enrolled the following fall and

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took a class or two with me, but I never really gave him another thought.
And, that was that - until three
years ago when he contacted me and
invited me for a visit to his " office, "
Yosemite National Park, where he is
the assistant superintendent in charge
of preserving and protecting John
Muir's " Range of Light. "
The second instance occurred sometime in the mid-1980s. This time, the
student's name was Eric, and he was
a journalism major with a parks and
recreation minor. Eric was an outdoor
enthusiast and a good student, but
his mother had passed away recently,
and, as he was about to graduate, he
was in a funk. I suggested that as a
graduation present to himself, he hike
the John Muir Trail as doing so might
be good for what ailed him.
Again, that was that - until 2005
when I received an email from Eric
telling me he had written a book in
which he acknowledged the role I
had played in his life. The book, The
Last Season, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction, and Eric
was selected as Barnes and Noble's
" Discovery Author of the Year. "
The Last Season, it turns out, is about
the disappearance of a backcountry
wilderness ranger in Sequoia/Kings
Canyon National Park, a story Eric
stumbled upon while hiking the John
Muir Trail. Eric has since written
two more New York Times nonfiction
best-sellers about the war in Afghanistan, The Only Thing Worth Dying
For and Fearless, and his last book,
Legend, about a Medal of Honor winner's gallantry during the Vietnam
War, was recently released.
My off-the-cuff comments to Scott
and Eric changed the course of their
lives. At the time, neither I nor they
knew my comments would have
an impact, but they did. How do I
know? Because, more than 20 years
later, Scott and Eric each told me so.

November 2015 - Parks & Recreation

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