Build

From small things, big things grow. Like a seed that turns into a giant redwood, the little choices we make and small steps we take have a larger impact. The minor things many take for granted are the foundation of something greater and, dare I say, very important for how we build a team, a credit union, and a community. By helping each other, encouraging each other, and supporting each other through good times and bad we build, we grow, we get stronger. The key term, of course, is we. What we build is a culmination of many people, ideas, skills, backgrounds and so on. We build Freedom together but also with our community and our members. Even though the saying is “if you build it, they will come”, I believe it’s more:

If you build it, they may come. If you build it with them, they’re already here.

One Man’s Trash

At what point in our evolution as a society was the decision made to discard trash anywhere you like: out the window of a car, gum spat on a sidewalk, cans/bottles left wherever they were emptied down a gullet? Was there a vote?

The other day I was walking with my son through the neighborhood. There was an empty box of candy in the grass and without a word, he bent down and picked it up. Before we got back home where he threw it in the trash can, I said, as if he was still a child, “why’d you pick that up? You don’t know where it’s been.” He held it up and said, “if everyone just did one little thing, the world would be a better place”. I found that moment very profound. A lesson learned somewhere along the way and an attitude that can inspire.

So, when I talk about how Freedom is built to put people first, to improve our community, to do good, it’s in the hope others might be motivated to act in kind and, in turn, do business with us so we can continue that mission. After all, one person can make a difference, why shouldn’t Freedom.

Favorite Things

You know what some of my favorite things are? When two people are walking down the sidewalk side by side and another couple approaches also walking side by side, I like when someone from each pair goes in front or behind the other, single file, so passing is easy. I like it when I see people walking through a parking lot, picking up trash and properly disposing of it even though it isn’t their trash.

Know what else? I like it when you hold a door for someone, and they say thank you or when you let someone in in front of you while driving and they give you a wave of appreciation. I think I like these things more than ever because they seem to be getting rarer and rarer. They shouldn’t be rare. They should be commonplace, common courtesy, common sense, whatever you want to label it.

It sometimes seems human beings have become an entitled bunch. Can’t get to the front fast enough, can’t wait, can’t understand, can’t talk, can’t empathize. As the Beatles song goes, “All through the day, I, me, mine. I, me, mine, I, me, mine”. I realize that doesn’t apply to everyone, but it sure seems more frequent than ever.

That’s why, at Freedom, we emphasize the little things. A greeting, a smile, a pleasant tone, a commitment to help, to serve and deliver a positive experience even if the face of difficult times. We can’t change the world, but we can do our part, and by our example, we encourage others to do the same.