President's Message
Of Mice and Men
It’s happened again — Summer plans made, work life stable, kids destined for camps, and we are about to hit the road for some alone time with our loved one. Is it a week in Vegas for sun, fun, and adventure? Is it a quiet week in an Airbnb in the north country? Is it a family reunion in the Outer Banks with cousins not seen for two decades? No matter. “…The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” To paraphrase the Robert Burns 1786 poem, no matter how completely we plan for the future, the present has a sneaky way of upending all our planning and focusing us on the stark clarity of how today requires something vastly different than we expected.
But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid plans of mice and men
Go often awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
Still, you are blessed, compared to me!The present only touches you:
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects dreary!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!Robert Burns, To A Mouse, 1785
For me, family illness derailed our summer plans. All three of my kids got sick at the same time and one of them developed a double ear infection and pneumonia. There, experiencing a resurgence of a chronic emotional challenge, have feigned an excuse to cancel social plans at the last minute. For still others, a formerly trusted employee broke our trust and presented an unacceptable risk to the operational stability of our credit union if we took our vacation. No matter the circumstance, today often requires something entirely different than yesterday’s plans for tomorrow.
When our plans go awry, we are faced with an impossible choice. After all, for credit unions, our members and communities have realistic expectations of us that go above and beyond keeping the lights on and the ATM operational. Do we force tomorrow’s plans on today’s requirements? Can we accurately predict the outcome? Who wins? Who will lose? If we derail our well-planned down time can we continue to provide the same quality of leadership others have come to expect from us? As is usually the case, burnout wins.
Robert Burns’s poem goes on. The protagonist reminds us that our fear of the unknown will most certainly affect our ability to make a good decision: “Backwards I cast my eye, on prospects dreary” (I can’t forget my past plans which are now dashed) “and forward, though I cannot see, I guess and fear!” (I cannot predict the outcome but I have to decide anyway!).
Sometimes, the unknown delivers great gifts. Sometimes, our best planning points in the wiring direction. Perhaps, when things go awry, we have an opportunity to go with the flow and snatch the opportunities as they fly by.
As always,
Bruce
