The Board Meeting

Cliff is a gentle soul. He takes his job as custodian at our school very seriously, not a crumb gets by Cliff. It is as if it is a religious ritual, that he is thanking God for his health and ability to work with each swipe. (In our very secular school) The school district wants to hire a private management firm to take over the maintenance duties in our schools. Cliff would lose his job and the 22 years that he has worked toward retirement and health benefits would be gone. I was asked by a fellow teacher to speak at the board meeting on behalf of the custodians at our school. It would have been easy to say no. I had a dentist appointment at 5:30, dinner to cook, school work to do...
I immediately thought of the 29 gifts and I said yes. I wrote a two minute piece about Cliff and presented it in front of a packed auditorium. My gift was telling everyone how special Cliff is and that he is of tremendous value. My gift (in return) was hearing Cliff in front of the same auditorium, plead for his job and having the understanding that I may have in some small way helped.