Spent the better half of the day trying to bring an old 240 volt outlet back to life, after an electrician had completely taken  an albeit old,  but perfectly good, wiring job apart, I am figuring in the name of safety. This of course has made my job quite difficult. But in the throws of desperation and frustration, I met the kindest and most authentic man by the name of Hugh in the isles of Home Depot.  He is a beautiful older man, a retired electrician, who may be the most patient man I have ever met.  He must of spent an hour with me today, with my photos and hand written notes coming up with a scheme to put this all together. I almost gave Hugh a hug upon leaving Home Depot but felt a hand shake may be more appropriate, I said “thank you Hugh you have solved my problem”. He said “it’s not solved yet”, I said “sure it is what could possibly go wrong”?

Like a proud 5 year old returning home from his first day of kindergarten, I returned home with my bag of switches and wires, and cable ties and I set to work. Several hours and buckets of sweat later, it was time to flip the electrical switch, to my delight nothing caught fire, and none of the breakers flipped. But to my dismay my 240 outlet was still without power. A painfully difficult navigation into the attack revealed why, The electrician had cut all these wires as well, I almost cried. I couldn’t believe I had spent all that time putting that together and was still was without power.  I guess Hugh and I have a date next weekend. I am sure he will not be surprised.

I was thinking that old retired Hugh is the kind of person we all need to strive to be at work. Never have I ever before walked into Home Depot and left a smarter more well adjusted person.  He could have done what most people do, what the guy in Ace Hardware did, or the electrician who gave me the quote did, the least possible!  But Hugh, doesn’t do what is in his job description, he goes beyond that, he affects people, what a diamond in the rough!

I have met a handful of these people in my life. People who do their work with love, and purpose and passion.   It is a pleasure to see how they affect the people around them. After an hour with Hugh I could have been an amateur electrician, and it was fun following him through the isles and watching all the smiles he could create. It was like magic.

After failing at my project today, I was mad because I had spent so much time and still did not have a way to dry my clothes. But, now thinking about it, I figure I spent a lot more time on things like calculus, and organic chemistry,  which actually in the scheme of things has proven far less useful.

And best of all I met Hugh, who as a master electrician taught me a lesson about power.  The power each and every one of has every day to go beyond what is asked of us, to use our art to create passion. To bring love and purpose to our work.