Displacement is minimal in an indispensable democracy

The speeches I hear near election time, remind me of a poem that I’ve saved for years. It didn’t have a title or author but “Indispensable Man” seems to be an appropriate title. Luckily, for our country, I think we’ll be talking about indispensable women one of these days in connection with the presidency and many other outstanding leadership positions. For some reason, that has come about slowly like a good number of very important issues in our nation’s history. Women are coming on and have come into their own. Now, the largest number of advanced college and university degrees earned are by women.

Why did it take so long? Why did eliminating slavery, allowing women to vote, child labor laws and other such important matters take so long?

Evidently, we are slow learners but eventually we do get the point.

The point I want to make before sharing the poem I’ve kept for so many years is that no individual is indispensable.

If the person, we plan to vote for in the coming election is defeated, our nation will continue. We have so many heroes in the past, because they happened, in addition to their ability, to be in the right place at the right time under the right circumstances.

That will continue to happen again, and again. So if your political party is not successful, have heart and reread this poem.

Sometime when you’re feeling important,

Sometime when your ego’s in bloom,

Sometime, when you take it for granted,

You’re the best qualified in the room,

Sometime, when you feel that you’re going,

Would leave an unfillable hole,

Just follow this simple instruction,

And see how it humbles your soul.

Take a bucket and fill it with water,

Put your hand in it up to your wrist;

Pull it out; and that hole that’s remaining,

Is a measure of how you’ll be missed.

You may splash all you please when you enter.

You can stir up the water galore,

But stop, and you’ll find in a minute,

That it looks quite the same as before.

The moral in this quaint example,

Is to just do the best that you can,

Be proud of yourself, but remember,

There’s no indispensable man (person).

That point applies the other way too. Many young and well-qualified people are without jobs right now. They have to wonder what happened after the successes the previous generation had. They are qualified to do those jobs and to do them well.

Their day will come. Discouraging political situations have existed before. Don’t abandon ship.

Tags: community, seniors