Of People and Things

Every year I look forward to putting up the Christmas tree. I open up boxes and boxes of ornaments, and I am always surprised to see some that I had forgotten about, a few make me smile, and others make me a little teary eyed. Every year I add to my collection, to me it is like adding to the joy of life. By now you can guess that I am rather sentimental about these ornaments. I always think about Christmas past, and people that I love, including those who are no longer with us.

Last weekend I spent two days decorating the tree. I had bought special ornaments to commemorate my twin granddaughters’ first Christmas. We had the traditional teasing, as my son-in-law chuckles at my extravagant tree. You see, he is a minimalist kind of guy with a mother-in-law who believes that there is no such thing as too many ornaments!

Well, Wednesday evening I came down the stairs and I had the shock of my life. I saw my beautiful tree on the floor! I am amazed that I did not hear the crash; but there it was, broken ornaments all over the carpet, and the carefully placed tinsel now tangled up with the light strings. Just at that moment my daughter and son-in-law walked through the door. They were mortified to think that one of their dogs might have knocked the tree down. We all knew that that was not the case, and that it was much more likely that I did not do a good job of securing the tree to its stand. But they were worried, and I was upset at the loss of my priced ornaments.

After a few minutes I came to my senses. I felt terrible that my sadness over the ornaments had made them feel bad. I tried to reassure them that as much as I like my “stuff”, that is all it is, stuff. The last thing that I want, especially at this time of the year, is to make my family feel uncomfortable or unwelcome in my home. The ornaments are things, beautiful and priced, but still only things. They make me think of people I love, but they do not substitute them. I reminded myself that things, beautiful as they may be, never are as important as people.

This is a key lesson. How often do we catch ourselves valuing objects more than people? Do we see our clients as dollar signs rather than individuals with needs? Do we treat our employees as if we owned their soul, rather than as the valuable colleagues that make our lives better? Fairness and considerate should be our most important principle. As business owners, as well as human beings, we must not forget that things can be replaced; people, not so easily.

And the good news is that I did not lose as many ornaments as I first thought, and that my most beloved ones, including the barrister ornament that I got the year I became a lawyer, survived the ordeal!