Thrilled, Anxious, and Frustrated

Next month I’ll reach my 80th birthday. Being retired, I am very uncertain as to what and how I can still become a value creator. During my working years I ALWAYS looked for ways to do the job more efficiently, obtain better results, or see the “Big Picture”. As a boy on a farm, I tried to find easier ways to get the chores done. In high school and college, I worked summers and tried to understand the businesses for which I worked, not successfully, but I tried.

At the age of 19, I joined the US Air Force and went through officer training, navigator and pilot training.

As a pilot in Viet Nam, I gave my people assignments where they produced booklets of guidance/instructions for each area of responsibility. That had not been done by my predecessors and made our operation efficient.

We also helped the local military officials build a command post. I also designed a training program for their pilots and we flew training missions with them, graduating them when they completed training.

In my last state-side assignment, I designed a training program for our crews in a specialized area that proved highly successful.

As a civilian I designed audit programs in specialized areas and taught classes in those areas.

In most positions I held through those years my superiors commented on my ability to see the big picture.

Yet, despite all those exhilarating years of accomplishments, I now find myself frustrated. I feel deep gratitude to Mark and am thrilled that he chose me for membership in the Society, but I am absolutely lost for an idea on WHAT and HOW I can create value in this anti-civilization in which we are trapped.

I am NOT an extrovert by nature, but love to teach, and share my knowledge with others. So, I am casting about in my mind to find my new place for myself in this old world. I need all the guidance available in the society and am very anxious to learn as much as possible to expand my thinking.