Rants from 36,000 feet, row 6, aisle seat
My dear wife recently reminded me about an experience I had when we lived in California many years ago. I was blessed to have a few encounters with a disabled Vietnam-era veteran who was a California political icon in the 1980s and 90s. B.T. Collins was such a unique and engaging person that he held very senior government posts under governors of both political parties.
B.T. Collins
There are many fascinating stories of B.T. and I suppose that most of them are true. I say this as I had my own encounter with him. Back during the early 90s I volunteered for the assignment to identify and enlist guest speakers for my alumni association’s monthly get-together. B.T. had local-celebrity status, so I decided he would be a great candidate and I set out to track him down. It was not all that difficult as he actually had a listed phone number in the Sacramento telephone directory.
After leaving a message on his answering machine, his secretary called me back a few days later, gave me a bit of a run around, but finally agreed to a date and time that would work for B.T. to come and speak to our group. A few weeks passed. While sitting in my office late one evening, the phone rang. I answered the phone and the caller said, “Hi, this is B.T. Collins. I was checking to make sure that someone got back to you.” I was stunned and stuttered something to the affirmative. I wondered why a big-time guy like him would take the time to call a person he had never met and who was looking for a favor. I became an instant B.T. Collins fan.
At the alumni meeting B.T. told how he was wounded, how he was helped by other soldiers during his recovery, and how he later helped others as they recovered. He also shared with us that he still went to Travis AFB to honor repatriated remains when they were returned from Vietnam.
At B.T.’s funeral, former Governor of California Jerry Brown eulogized him. He told a story of how B.T. (his chief of staff) stomped into his office one day and said, “Brown, you just don’t get it. It is all about relationships, relationships, relationships.”
It is all about relationships, relationships, relationships.
What B.T. understood and articulated should be intuitive to us all. In the business world, especially in sales, building a rapport and establishing a trust relationship with your customer often makes all the difference for future sales. I am convinced that it is also a key determinant in whether or not conflicts, which invariably happen in long-term business relationships, will be resolved amicably or in a court room. Even for those who don’t work directly with customers, I contend that business units that enjoy good relationships among co-workers yield better business results than those with distant or poor relationships. Having good relationships with our fellow employees surely makes the difference between whether we enjoy our jobs or hate our jobs.
B.T. Collins and Jerry Brown
There is a direct correlation between the quality of our relationships and our own happiness. This is by divine design. The God of the universe, who created us in His image, knew this from the beginning of time. He created us with the longing and desire for relationships, most especially for a love relationship with Him. This desire for Him was not created out of any need of His, but rather to fill us—or better yet—to shower and overflow us with His love so that we can experience complete and utter joy both in this life and in our eternal life.
A great priest, Father Dave Pivonka, tells the story that if we were to go into God’s kitchen, we would see our own picture on God’s refrigerator. This is the kind of heart-felt love, like a parent for a child, that God has for each and everyone of us.
There is a direct correlation between the quality of our relationships and our own happiness. This is by divine design.
While God provides us ample reasons through deduction to believe in His existence (and Dr. Peter Kreeft has a set of wonderful lectures on this topic), what God truly desires is for us to experience Him and then to enter into and join in a love relationship with Him. Another great priest, Father Larry Richards asks people to guess as to why he (Father Larry) believes that Jesus exists and that He is the Son of God. Father Larry’s response is: because he knows Him.
When we choose to responds to God’s calling for this personal relationship with Him, we start to recognize that this relationship is the true purpose of our existence. When we respond to Him, everything in our lives begins to change. Our relationships with our family members and friends change. For those of us who are in business, how we perceive and approach our co-workers, customers, and business affairs changes. We better understand that Christ’s call to love our neighbors really means to love those people around us, even those—or should I say especially those—for whom we don’t particularly feel a great fondness.
When we choose to responds to God’s calling for this personal relationship with Him, we start to recognize that this relationship is the true purpose of our existence.
How does one enter into such a relationship with God? Frequent reception of the Sacraments is essential. We need the graces that only the Sacraments can provide. Also essential is regular, consistent daily pray. Every day. Several times a day. Listening to the voice of God is critical to developing this love relationship with Him. Christ so much wants to speak to us, but He won’t interrupt us if we choose to ignore Him. This implies that while prays of petition are wonderful and important, we also need to take time to be quiet, to listen for His voice, and to allow God to speak to us and to love us.
When you do this faithfully (pun intended) you and those around you will slowly but surely sense a difference in your life. You will be able tell you are moving on the right path when, like B.T., you will see and understand the true value God has put on relationships. Your confirmation will be when someone asks you why you believe in God, and you can answer joyfully like Father Larry, because I know Him.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a timely reminder for me in my business relationships–which tend to be familial in nature.
Also, Rob loves this for content as well as for the closing pun!
Nice post–and good to hear from Paterfamilias again.
It reminds me of one of Bl. John Henry Newman’s sermons: “Personal Influence: the Means of Propagating Truth.” Newman’s point: that Christ’s Apostles were not the most eloquent, the most attractive, the most powerful of messengers–they did not impress with their competence, but rather they inspired with their relationships.
(Remember: CA Gov.-Elect Jerry Brown is a fallen-away Catholic. Christ has his hook in him, irrespective of Brown’s fashionable 1980s Hollywood Buddhism; pray that the Fisherman might reel this one back in.)