Happy Second Birthday

“Tanti auguri a te, tanti auguri a te, tanti auguri Jaded Julie, tanti auguri a te!”

“Curmudge, it sounded as if you were singing, ’Happy birthday,’ but I couldn’t understand the words. What gives?”

“It’s the second birthday of the Kaizen Curmudgeon blog, so I was singing, ‘Happy birthday’ in Italian. Everything sounds better sung in Italian. It is translated, ‘Best wishes to you.’ Happy birthday, Julie; you are two years old.”

“And I thought I was 39 and that you are at least 95. The first of our 80+ postings was on May 23, 2007. How long are we going to keep this up?”

“I guess until there is something more important for me to do, or perhaps until my face goes ‘plop’ onto the keyboard.”

“If you did that, Curmudge, your nose would land on the ‘u’ key, and the computer would keep cranking out uuuuuu’s until someone found you.”

“It wouldn’t be a bad way to go, but meanwhile, there’s a lot more to be said about Lean and health care.”

“Topics, Curmudge, that you have no credentials to write about.”

“Hey, you’re supposed to be my source of expertise. Besides, I read good books and articles and talk to good people. Since I have forgotten most of the chemistry, physics, engineering, and math that I once knew, I’d better learn something else. We need to stand in front of a mirror when we tell our readers to, ‘Be all you can be.’ That’s what I’m trying to do.”

“Well, Curmudge, is that all we are going to do today? Just blow out the candles on the birthday cake and go home? Usually there is a lesson in each of our Kaizen Curmudgeon postings.”

“There is in this one too, Julie. I just said it, ‘Be all you can be.’ It sounds trite and like the U.S. Army, but those are five powerful words. If one has read and keeps reading this blog and the books we reference—and practices what we preach, she’ll be well on her way to being healthy and wise (these days one can’t say much about being wealthy). Otherwise, you’ll do what I did—become ‘so soon old and so late smart.’ Who wants to end up as an old has-been who wasn’t much?”

“That’s a good trick, Curmudge. You were just assertive and humble in the same paragraph. So do you know some examples of people close at hand who are becoming all they can be?”

“You bet I do. The people we work with in the Kaizen Promotion Office are excellent examples. They read all our blog drafts for accuracy, they devote several weeks each year to training, and they work their heads off. These people are the best folks in the world to work with, and they would be winners in any environment.”

“Curmudge, if you’d like to take my hand as you step down from your soapbox, you won’t fall and end up critiquing our Emergency Department. But first, do you have any final words on ‘being all you can be’?”

“Sure. Just do it!”

Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon