After a lifetime of public service, I
am convinced that real change is not just in the hands of the politicians. Real change is within the reach of each and
every one of us depending on how we do our daily tasks.
An Ethic of Love
On Friday, August 24, New York Daily
News reporter Corky Siemasko wrote a story about a wedding ring that had been
lost in Battery Park. Artist Danielle
Carroll had been teaching painting classes in the park and inadvertently
misplaced her wedding ring while cleaning up the day's activities. She did not realize her ring was missing
until she woke up with a start at 3:30 a.m.
She tried to sneak out of her
apartment to look for the ring but her husband awoke and they immediately
journeyed back to the park together.
They found the likely trash can where she thought she might have dumped
her trash but it had been emptied. The
only possible aid to the search was a loaded but unoccupied garbage truck
sitting nearby. Being unable to conclude
the search effort they wrote a note and left it on the windshield, asking for
help in searching for the ring telling the reader that she believed her ring
was in the truck.
The note was found by park worker
Gary Gaddist. After he found the note
he called her and received the whole story.
He agreed to help but told her it was "iffy" like "looking for a needle
in a haystack." He had collected
thousands of pounds of garbage, sitting in black bags at the Parks Department's
facility on Randalls Island. He started
looking through the bags and around 8:30 a.m. he found the ring. They had left the note for him at 5:00a.m.
When he was asked why he had done
this task for a total stranger he said, "it was a love thing."
"She sounded like a nice person, and
I could tell she and her husband love each other," he said. "I'm glad I could
help."
This is a great story. But I suspect that Mr. Gaddist is somewhat
of an unreliable reporter. I say this
because he attributes the motivation for his action to the couple's love for
each other. But I suspect that the real
love at issue is the love of Mr. Gaddist.
He does his job with love.
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