Academy Awards

Let me just say up front that I love Academy Award night and all that it involves...the clothes, the stars and of course the movies!  I love talking about the movies...before and after the Oscars...cheering for favorites and putting the award winners I’ve missed on the Netflicks list.

But driving home today from the body shop where my car had a little face lift (that’s a blog for another day as to how it got its wrinkles), I thought wouldn’t it be great to give out awards for the people in our lives who do their jobs SO well.  Most are not very glamorous  jobs but many are so very deserving of an award they probably never get...and sometimes not even a thank you.

Here’s a few crisp white envelopes I’d like to open on network TV.  “And the winner is”:  Every pilot who lands that plane safely—in fair weather, in turbulent storms and in air traffic jams.  I’m so glad their performance is stellar.  And as mentioned above, the guy at the body shop who takes his job so seriously, he called me almost every day to give me a progress report....”we’re ordering a fender, the fender is in, we’re painting the fender”...and I don’t know if they teach them empathy talk at body shop school but the nice things he said to me when we brought the car in to make me feel better.  He cared as much about my damaged confidence as my dangling bumper  “Accidents happen...that’s why they call them accidents.”  Kinda like funeral director language—they must teach that.

How about one of those little gold statues for the doctor who puts that stint in or takes the tumor out....the nurse who administers the chemo...the teacher who spends extra time with the child who needs help...not to mention the hours at home or the personal money she spends on classroom supplies.  A guy named Cliff at the little Newburg, New York airport who did a physical search of the airport and called me back three times when I lost my camera battery en route.  Roll out the red carpet for all the Cliffs in the world.

Oh, I could go on...and I’m sure you have your list. Everyday people just doing their job...but some of them do it SO well, you want to give them an award.  It’s a pleasure to watch someone love what they’re doing, especially those we count on to make our lives easier, safer and just better.  If you agree, tell the next someone who gives you outstanding service that they are deserve an Oscar.  At the very least a compliment.