Almost 15 years ago to the day, as I wrapped up my time as a County Commissioner, I sent an email explaining that amid much of the high-profile matters I dealt with, the things I remembered most were the less public ways I had been able to help people.
Here’s the essence of what I wrote:
“‘You saved my home.’
The four words I will most remember from my service here were not about [the[ big issues. But about something far more simple and fundamental.
“You saved my home.”
Those words were said to me in passing by Jack, a County resident I have known for several years, at a Bengals game in the Fall of 2009.
Months before, Jack faced imminent foreclosure, and saw the public service announcement on TV that touted the foreclosure prevention program we funded from the County (I appeared briefly in the PSA touting a phone number to call). He called the number. The process worked, he received the counseling he needed, and his home was saved, as he explained to me later at that Bengals game.
“You saved my home,” he said. Of course, it wasn’t me. It was a great team of people who had put together a strong counseling program that I had pushed the County to support. But I had appeared in the PSA, which had prompted his original call.
Those words stopped me in my tracks. They are the only thing I remember from that game. And when I see Jack, as I did again at last Sunday’s game, they reverberate every single time--even though we’ve never discussed it again. [Saw him again this Sunday, by the way].
Then, now and always, those words are a reminder to me of the true opportunity and responsibility of service...beneath the headlines, beyond the politics, and below the rarefied air of the “big” issues. They sum up the difference that good, effective service can make--sometimes all the difference--in people’s lives.”
While it got almost no attention, that foreclosure prevention work I led helped avert thousands of foreclosures in just a few years, at the height of the Great Recession.
And this story brings me to my conversation yesterday with Congressman Greg Landsman. Because amid the most unproductive Congress in decades, amid the chaos that surrounds the Mike Johnson-led House, Greg also had some amazing stories of service—from taking the time to lay out a bigger, aspirational vision for the country and 10 key steps to get there; to helping through the Social Security Fairness Act after hearing from a constituent; to taking steps to track tens of thousands of abducted Ukrainian children.
Our conversation is a great reminder that even amid political chaos and division, public service remains an honor—and an opportunity to make a difference.
And that true service is still possible for those who see it that way.
Thank you to all those who act on that every day.
Enjoy our discussion—I promise it will lift you about the art of the possible as we enter the new year.
And for more on Greg’s plan, which he calls “The Great American Comeback,” go here:
