Consequent Ideas

I have been working on an application for a couple of weeks now. The position requires replying to several essay questions and totally revamping my resume. My tactic for getting this application done was a cross between researching the company and its people, writing answers to the essay questions, re-writing my answers because my initial response went in a non-preferred direction, procrastinating due to doubt, and balking at figuring out how to change my resume.

After spending so long perfecting my resume, I am quite attached to the current product: the format, the phrasing, the terminology, the selected experience. Given the task at hand, the only one of these things I can keep is my formatting. I’m even debating changing my title line. It’s rough. The process isn’t just daunting, it’s emotionally draining: I have to rebuild myself from scratch.

I’m not sure I even know how to do that anymore.

This was the task I’ve been delaying the longest. Today, I decided I was done with such nonsense and was going to at least try. (Well, after re-checking to make sure the position was still listed online, I decided to try; I was not about to waste my efforts on an opportunity that had already closed. #FinalDelayTactic.) After all, the options seemed to be try and possibly fail, or fail to try at all. I gritted my teeth (literally) and started tearing apart my resume (metaphorically). After struggling for several minutes, I paused: if I were writing my resume from scratch, what would I do?

Google it.

Looking up resumes for a how to include a blog on a resume led to my search for resume examples for similar job titles. Was my research another delay tactic? At first brush against this question, I was concerned, but I quickly found myself actively engaged in the product much more than the process. I wanted to get this done and done right.

Just as I started to implement the meat-and-potatoes into my resume, I get a phone call that I really shouldn’t ignore. I bit my lip, exhaled hard, and answered. It was a good conversation, but mercifully not a particularly long one because my mind was on the task at hand. I was focused. I was going to get this done. However, our conversation reminded me that I had other things to prepare for first, so I jumped on my other tasks with such fervor that I completed them faster than I’d ever done before and swiveled back to the resume.

A little rip here, a little tug there, a little deletion of this irrelevant experience and some addition of that parallel work. When I first looked at my resume and thought about the changes I needed to make, I despaired that I wouldn’t even have a page to fill and increased the font sizes to make the content look longer. By the end of the session, I had to decrease the font size and play with spacing to make it fit on one page. All totalled, I spent five hours of intense hands-on re-drafting of this puppy – and I had to tear myself away to attend an event tonight.

By the time my alarm went off to get ready to leave, the resume was in workable condition. Not done – certainly not – but it looked like a resume that could plausibly be submitted for this position. I sent it to a friend basically saying, “Look how far I’ve come!” I was ecstatic, and I wanted to share my joy with her.

(She has already shared her suggestions back with me. Bless her – it wasn’t ready for a review yet, but she took the time to help anyway.)

Tomorrow will be the post-hack-and-slash day. There will be cleaning, and tweaking, and distilling, and clarifying, and oh so much polishing. But that’s for tomorrow. Tonight, I am satisfied. I saw what I did, and it was good. And I’m so excited about what I got done today that I’m thrilled to be able to jump up and continue the work tomorrow. It’s going to be awesome.

When have you put something off only to discover later the joy in doing it? How do you feel when you get around to checking things off on your to-do list that have been sitting there for a little too long? Are there any tasks you’ve been putting off that you found yourself thinking about while reading this post? If so, what are you going to do to get it done?

In the State of New Hampshire, every proposed bill is presented with the opportunity for the public to weigh in. Today, there was an exceptionally charged bill which went to committee in the State House of Representatives: CACR 14 of 2020. It drew such a crowd that it was migrated from its original room to the House of Representatives chamber in the building across the road to fill a little more than half of the four hundred member seats there.

Why all the interest? Here’s the language CACR 14 seeks to add into the New Hampshire State constitution:

The right to make personal reproductive medical decisions is inviolate and fundamental to the human condition. Neither the State nor any political subdivision shall infringe upon or unduly inconvenience this right.

– CACR 14, New Hampshire
(introduced 22 January 2020)

For anyone not steeped in the history of the legalese used in this bill, a quick run-down of the landscape is helpful.

A Brief History of United States Abortion Law

This wording is based on various case law which was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). Roe v. Wade (Roe) may have been the first landmark abortion case, but it is not the current law of the land; in 1992, SCOTUS decided in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (Casey) that changed the standard, re-iterating (and somewhat fudging) that standard in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (Hellerstedt). (I’ve linked both the SCOTUS decisions as well as the Wikipedia articles for each case. I’m also summarizing below.)

The Roe ruling resulted in strict scrutiny and the trimester system: the government had to have a compelling reason to get involved, the first trimester was unregulatable, and the second and third trimesters were increasingly regulatable so long as there were exceptions for the mother’s health. Basically, the farther along in the pregnancy a mother was, the more the government could regulate. Casey invented a new standard – “undue burden” – and shifted to a viability standard: if the child could survive outside the womb, it had rights. Hellerstedt kept the undue burden standard and applied a balancing test to the imposed burdens. This is the current state of the law: undue burden via balancing tests and viability.

The Crux of the Issue

Here’s the obvious question question: what is an undue burden?

Whether or not you’re a member of the legal community, there isn’t a clear answer. Various provisions have been struck down since Casey, but even Hellerstedt struck down regulation based on the perceived motives of the legislators who wrote the law, meaning the provisions themselves were not unconstitutional. If the provisions had been struck down based on the law itself, I would hope for outrage: it’s literally a collection of rules to prevent women from dying in an abortion gone wrong. Based on this ruling, women are expected to settle for much lower quality (thus, much more dangerous) healthcare than men. (What’s new, right?)

Regardless, this is the present state of affairs. Couple this with the perception that the sitting SCOTUS bench will overturn Roe (and, presumably, Casey and Hellerstedt) to find panic boiling. Some people are pushing to codify the way things are: they want to turn the case rulings into bills and pass those bills into laws.

I’m all for the legislative process, but I want to know what the law means before it goes into effect.

A Metaphor

Let’s say the people who decide such things got together and decided to change the speed limit on a certain stretch of road. Perhaps there are too many accidents, or maybe they want to optimize gase mileage – pick your reason, but they opt to drop the speed limit. That change is well within their rights. Also suppose that new speed limit signs are too expensive, so they will still ticket offenders, but they’re not going to put the signs up to let them know where the speed limit has changed.

Two Parallels

I like the terms of patent law: “metes and bounds” determine rights. When someone submits an application for a patent, and the claims indicate something unknown, they are rejected as being indefinite. That means that because reasonable people wouldn’t know when they’re infringing on the patent, it can’t stick; the applicant has to revise the language so others know what they’re claiming with certainty.

Patents not your fancy? Let’s try sales instead.

Let’s say you’re in the market for a piece of land. I come up to you and I offer to sell you a piece of land. I went over your requirements and preferences, and I promise you it’s just what you’re looking for, and costs half what you were expecting to spend. So, interested, you ask to see it. My reply: not until I’ve got cash in hand from the purchase.

Would you jump? I’d advise against it: you don’t know what you’re getting. Sure, I’m trustworthy, but a number of things are likely to go wrong. For example, I might misunderstand one of your necessary stipulations: you said you wanted to be in Springfield, and I heard “Hampton” in the discussion; I took that to mean your interest was in Springfield, New York, but you were talking about Wolverhampton in England. That’s a pretty big difference.

Confused State of Affairs

This is effectively what’s happening here: we’re making laws that may (or may not) change the landscape, but nobody knows. Not even the legislators know what this law means. In the committee hearing today, one of the co-sponsors was asked a question as to how it would impact the rights of men, specifically men with children in utero but also how it might affect others. She stated that she didn’t know because it wasn’t her area of expertise. If the sponsors of the bill don’t know how it will impact citizens, how are the rest of the citizens supposed to figure it out?

And that’s the problem: where do you know what is okay and what isn’t based on a standard that means virtually nothing? It’s so vague that it doesn’t even necessarily enshrine the rights that it purports to: one pro-choice woman got up and opposed the legislation because it decreases the freedom of women. It’s also frightening because, based on the testimony of all three co-sponsors, it’s intended to embed a fundamental right to abortion into the state constitution: many pro-life advocates testified to the dangers of the proposed legislation from a variety of angles.

Testify!

Upon reading the bill, I researched to see if any of the wording from Roe and Casey and Hellerstedt had been clarified yet. Negative. Next, I cobbled together what I thought the legislators were likely to need to hear, and, knowing I don’t do well in front of crowds for more than thirty seconds, I distilled the statement until I could regurgitate it in half a breath.

Many stood up to speak their respective pieces. I signed up to speak, but I hedged: would there be anything more for me to say so far into the program? I was making excuses and I knew it; I get nervous in front of crowds. As the co-sponsors presented the bill and as others testified, I refined my speech; the opportunities were evident for me to use the words of the sponsors firmly against their bill, and I re-phrased it until it was golden eloquence.

Then it was my turn to speak.

When I went up to the microphone, I cracked a joke based on a funny little issue that had sprung up a few minutes prior (which, surprisingly, most people laughed at) and felt the space between my ears freeze with heat: stage fright had set in. Ears burning, I spit out the case names and that, due to the vagueness of the wording, “it doesn’t even mean anything.” Then I retreated. Including my intro, I might have made it to twenty seconds. I didn’t waste time stating my political identity or my background or anything else; I didn’t even thank them for granting me the space to speak while at the mic.

Afterward, some people reached out to me to tell me what I said was great. (I doubt that.) One in particular mentioned that I’m “such a powerful speaker.” Given that I couldn’t even remember what I said, I don’t understand how that was the case. I greeted another, a legal colleague, who promptly pointed out that I was the only person to reference the current case law; he was clearly happy about how things went. I went down to thank the committee chair for their time and specifically her efforts in maintaining a civil discourse (she intervened where appropriate). Day accomplished.

Plans Dashed, Succeeded

I had planned to make a short yet eloquent speech, drawing from the words of the co-sponsors and explaining the importance of knowing what a proposed bill means. I expected to point out that I was making a bipartisan case against the bill: regardless of affiliation, we should all want to know what a law means. I anticipated explaining that the legislature was in the perfect position to define the indefinite terms in the proposed bill itself so that we would all understand precisely what was meant so as to not have it construed in a way the citizenry wouldn’t expect. I wanted to point out the ironic stupidity of one of the included throw-away words. I wanted to make a case as an average citizen wanting to know what to expect of the law if it were to be enacted.

Well made plans don’t always happen the way they’re planned. That doesn’t mean they didn’t go the way they were supposed to. I made a stand against the bill, and I didn’t have to upset either side to do so. Finally, I made a point that nobody else had made in dual fashion: first, for citing the case law, and second, for pointing out the ridiculous ambiguity the case law has thrown us in.

Now that it’s all said and done, I’m glad I did it, and I’m more excited to keep trying until I can at least better manage my emotional reaction. I’m confident the hurdle is doable. Maybe I’ll even learn how to inspire others while I continue to grow.

Go For It

Have you recently tried anything that scared you or made you nervous? If you haven’t, I highly recommend adding it to your to-do list. It’s a great way to grow!

Have you ever stood up in a public setting for what you believe in? Have you done that in a congressional group? Today was my first time; it was exhilarating participating in the lawmaking process, but for me, it was simultaneously frightening. Do you have any tips for me in case I face the experience again? Are you planning to attend a hearing after reading about my experience? (I hope so!)

I’m (seemingly perpetually) at a crossroads: I want things that (seem to) conflict. This issue reached a local climax recently – I want this which is only possible if I stay here, but I also want that which I need to relocate for. The tug of war was rather rough, but I planned (and scheduled and worked) as though the this was going to work out, most of my efforts going toward this while I siphoned off trickles for the exceptionally exciting that I put off because of the this.

Today, I got an email all but eliminating this as an option: affirmatively no offer on the job I applied for locally.

Unlike several other “no”s I’ve gotten, I wasn’t crushed. Disheartened, sure, but simultaneously reinvigorated. It was quite an odd experience. I wanted the position – it worked out perfectly with so many long-term plans I’d planned – but there was a feeling of relief that came with that email. Why?

Because I’ve been praying wholeheartedly for God’s guidance. The this and that situation had me deeply frustrated, torn to the point of raw, gross tears. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I asked God for direction, and I specifically asked Him to quickly close the doors better for me to pass over than enter. Part of me knew what I was asking for, and that’s the part that felt relief when I received the news.

I even said “thank you,” despite the pain.

Then, I got up to seek a friend (it still hurt) and leave for an event. I tossed on my coat… and realized I didn’t know where I was going. (The event rotates locations.) Though my heart was hopeful, my head was still grieving, so I didn’t think to check until I was on my way out the door. Next! (Even writing this, I have a headache. Pull… on… happy… face…)

So, now I’m a little late. I’m also a mixture of injured, relieved, light-headed, hopeful, and rejuvenated. Most importantly, I now know where I’m going.

I ventured out to pick up a friend from work this morning. Upon arrival, I selected a parking space and started to back into it. Feeling unnecessary urgency, I didn’t give myself as much room as normal and I didn’t crank my wheel as quickly as normal. But it was close. As I eyed the bumper guarding the next space, I squinted. Too close for comfort. With a sigh, I pivoted my head.

The man in front of my vehicle was waving his arms and shaking his head. “No,” he mouthed as big as his mouth could mouth it. I smiled, nodded, and waved my thank-you. He smiled and nodded back, waving back and continuing on.

I appreciated the second opinion from a better vantage point, particularly because of how close of a call it was. Moreso, I appreciated that the decision I had already made was validated by a disinterested observer: with all the dead ends I’ve hit and all the unsolicited, contrarian, and unhelpful advice I’ve been given of late, I found the validation refreshing. Just every so often, I need a little reminder that I’m doing something right.

Plus, I had to smile because a stranger took the time to pause – in the middle of his exercise routine – to help me out. It took him all of maybe ten seconds to catch my attention, but that’s ten seconds many people would not have thought to give let alone paused after thinking of it to give. Many of us are so embroiled in our own lives that we can’t see the issues affecting others. Sometimes are better than others – it’s not an all-or-nothing question: we sometimes pounce on opportunities to serve others whereas other times we serve reluctantly, or decide against it, or default on any decision by missing the chance.

This post isn’t about saying yes more than you can handle. I’m learning more daily about how over-piling tasks on my to-do list weakens my ability to properly say yes to anything at all. (Sunday afternoon, for example, the only thing I could say yes to was sleep. I squeaked out a short drive, but I had to blast cold air in my face for safety reasons; it wasn’t comfortable. Not to mention the delay in some recent applications I’ve been working on…)

My question today is this: do we pause to lift up others in small ways? Do we hold the door for the person behind us, or open the gate for someone intent on exiting it who can’t spare a hand? Do we wave at cars traveling the wrong way down a one-way street? (Safety reminder: always look both ways when crossing the road!) Do we pause to say thank you to parents showing great patience with their children, or to children showing parents respect in public places?

Serving others – in small ways, in big ways, in quick ways, in slow ways, in any way consistent with God’s plan – brings us closer to God. It also brings us closer to our fellow human beings, whether or not they believe in Christ, because serving each other necessarily brings us together. Small holy moments are holy moments, and lifting others up qualifies.

Pause. What’s a holy moment?

A Holy Moment is a moment when you are being the person God created you to be, and you are doing what God is calling you to do in that moment.

Matthew Kelly, The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity
(also available on Amazon)

The man in the parking lot today gifted me one of his holy moments. When you held the door open for the person behind you: holy moment. When we pause to check on a friend: holy moment. When we help another de-stress: holy moment. When we volunteer, whether it be for an event or a specific chore: holy moment. When we wait patiently for pedestrians in the crosswalk: holy moment. When we smile warmly in passing at a stranger: holy moment. When we put spare change in a donation jar: holy moment.

Follow-up questions: would you do it again? When you last paused for a holy moment, how did you feel in that moment? (Notice that this is a when question, not an if question. We’ve all had holy moments!) Did your perspective shift on anything that day (perhaps via less stress about a decision or more hope in a situation)?

Are you allowing more holy moments to happen through you?

Let it never be said that I don’t need my Dad, no matter how old or (seemingly) independent I get.

I visited a friend this evening to help her pick out an interview outfit. There was laundry, there was an amazing dinner (with a delicious despite incredibly salty homemade au jus), there was trying on outfits, there was laughter, there were serious discussions, there were simply good times. We had a grand night. (I’ll be hurting tomorrow due to lack of sleep because I repeatedly lost track of the time, but tonight was fabulous.)

We were wrapping up the evening, and we made a run to my vehicle to drop off the non-selected interview-potential outfits. We toss everything in when I realize I don’t have my phone. No big deal – we’ll go inside and do a quick sweep. … It’s nowhere to be found.

The escalation is easy – my friend tries to call it. It’s when she holds her phone up to her ear and says to me, “It’s ringing,” that I realize that it isn’t: my phone automatically goes into Do Not Disturb (DND) mode each night. Okay…

Next stop is also fairly standard – I log into my Google account from her phone and tell my phone to ring. And I tried to. The problem with this method is that Google didn’t recognize her phone, and to verify my identity, I had to input a code it was sending to my phone which I didn’t have and was trying to use Google to locate. Ahhh!

I explain to my friend that DND mode means my phone won’t ring or notify me of any texts or other messages via sound or vibration; to know I’m receiving a message, I need to be looking at my phone. Unless… I shake my head. I set my phone to bypass DND mode for my parents: if either of them called from their cell phones, my phone would ring. … But that’d be kinda (or totally) rude to wake up my parents this late (after 10 pm) to ask them to call my lost phone. And they might not even answer because my friend’s phone was unknown to them.

I purse my lips, but they form a smile anyway. Dad wouldn’t mind…

My friend is surprised I know his phone number by heart. (Everything is programmed these days, she points out.) My father has had the same number for as long as I remember – probably since cell phones had become a common thing sometime in the ’90s. So, I called my Dad to ask him to help me find my phone and save the day.

One ring… Two rings… Three rings… Oh, no: I’ve never known him to wait this long to answer. Four rings… What if he’s not answering because he doesn’t recognize the number? Five rings…

“Hello?” A very confused and somewhat skeptical voice filters through the speaker.

“Dad?”

“Hello?” His tone changes as he recognizes me with the first syllable even though he clearly didn’t hear what I said.

“Dad, can you hear me?”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

I explain the situation to him, my friend watching my facial expressions as I talk to my Dad. Her face curls into an awkward smirk as though she discovered a secret of mine. I give her a look, but it only grows the expression. Am I acting funny? Doesn’t every princess love her father?

He’s happy to help (that’s my Dad!); we hang up and he immediately starts calling my phone. My friend and I search for several minutes longer to no avail; I give up hope for the night and text him a thank you for trying, but I was going to have to try again after getting some sleep. I hug my friend bye, we chat a minute longer, and then I go out to the car. I hop in, and just as I was about to turn the key, I hear it ring from the trunk.

He kept calling.

I quickly retrieved it and answered. “You finally found it,” he responds to my greeting.

I was so ecstatic that he kept trying to help me even after I’d given up. I felt guilty intruding on his sleep time, but he was perfectly happy to wake up to help his little girl. I am so blessed to have a father so good to me. (And this doesn’t even compare to the Suburban rollover incident!) I am so grateful for having such an amazing Dad.

Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

– Luke 11:9-10

I sought, and I found! My Dad helped me to find my phone, and all I had to do was ask. What a reminder to ask our Heavenly Father for help as well!

If you then… know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

– Luke 11:13

Whom do you turn to when something goes awry? Is there anyone who can call your phone when it’s on do not disturb who will ring through? What are you grateful for today?

This post is a shout out to all the marvelous fathers. Thank you for loving your children fully and wholeheartedly. You are more important than you know, so thank you again for all that you do to help your children grow … and find their missing cell phones.