Thursday, January 9, 2020

My St.Crispin's Day Speech


9 January 2020


 

Dear All,

 

As I prepare to leave this job, I have to say I am very deeply moved by the gifts provided me on my departure.  They are wonderful and they are thoughtful.  I appreciate your generosity and caring. Thank you so very much.

 

Truth be told I did not want this job when I applied for it, interviewed for it and eventually got it.  But as these 19+ years have rolled by I have come to truly appreciate the work we do.  What we do is honorable work. We are right to be proud of it.  While our existence may be an irritant to those we see as Petitioners, to judges who think we are too intransigent, and to others who are just not sure how we should fit in to the State of Michigan’s governance, what we do really matters. We help keep people safe, both the general motoring public and the people we evaluate.

 

Our jobs make us in part mirror and in part parent to people whose lives, by choice, genetics or behavioral patterning, have been overwhelmed by alcohol and drugs.  When a person denied and revoked a license comes before us, our questioning and our orders reflect to them exactly where they really stand in life.  In our words oral and written, we show them so many things, not the least of which is their level of personal control over their relationship with intoxicants.  If they meet the legal standards for relief, we are the parent who grants them a privilege in many cases long denied.  Making that call whether to grant relief or not, is rarely easy. The decision requires patience, thoughtfulness and understanding-very parental traits.

 

Truth be told I thought I would be at my desk doing this until I died.  I didn’t think my circumstances would ever allow me to go.  However, when you get hit with cancer twice in just over a decade you really start to think about what you want and need out of life. What I want and what I need have changed having now considered the fragility of my existence.  My time to go and enjoy the world outside of work is here now.

 

When I hired on my boss and mentor was the late Tom Kronk. Tom was a wonderful man with a dedication to his job, a compassion for his employees and with a wicked sense of humor.  One of the first things he told me was that I would have stories to tell from the hearings I held.  Oh Lord was he right.  From white nationalists, to allegedly inebriated members of the legislature, to out of control attorneys, to admissions I wouldn’t make to my pastoral confessor about bizarre sexual peccadillos, I have heard things and seen things that are truly unique. Really, there is a book to be written from this stuff.

 

I have had great managers, Tom, Kay, Mark and Colleen.  All of them have fought for us and have made this job better in so many ways better compared to when I started.  Each of them has repeatedly had our backs. There are too few jobs in this world where that is true.  I thank them all.

 

Preparing to go, I have been thinking about my fellow HOs current and past.  All are, and all have been good, decent and caring people.  We have shared opinions and strategies.  We have worked together.  This has been a great place to be for these 19+ years.

 

As I thought about what to say in a goodbye note my mind wandered Shakespearean. I remembered the St. Crispin’s Day Speech from Henry V, Act IV Scene iii.  We Hearing Officers are a band of sisters and brothers.  And when we leave this job we will all roll up our sleeves and as we share a cup of grog, say clearly, “This is what I did, and this is what I saw, and this is what I heard”, and we will be proud of what we accomplished here.

 

Hope to see you Friday.

 

Jay

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