WASATCH

                                                   

Today our family lost a dog. In reality the dog belonged to P.J., my grandson.  He was the one who looked after him. 

The dog’s name was Wasatch. Wasatch is the name of a beautiful mountain range in Utah and the name was given to the dog by PJ’s mom, Gia, a native of Salt Lake City, who spent many happy hours on the mountains. I remember she told her family either you come up with a name or I will and she did.

Losing a dog is tragic. Losing this dog is even worse. There is no other way to describe it.  It is impossible to grasp how hard it is to live with a dog for only 10 to 15 years and know that is about the length of time we can expect to live with them. To live with a dog for only 5 years as Wasatch’s family did is beyond words.

Wasatch was a typical dog in every sense of the word. He characterized the very essence of what a great dog does. He was funny, he was loyal, he was smart and he looked out for every member of his human family. No one got into their home without Wasatch letting them know someone was on the property.

At night he would go up to PJ’s room and while PJ was sleeping he would climb up on the bed and sleep alongside his buddy, PJ.  In the morning Gia would find the two of them fast asleep side by side.

He was given the reign of the kitchen area with an electronic fence. With his collar and the current on he was to stay in his prescribed area. He only needed to feel the gentle shock once and that was that. He would not venture out of his area with or without his collar.

He loved to run. PJ’s back yard is a good size and can be traversed in a large circle. Wasatch would run across the yard, down behind the side of garage, around the back, cross the basketball area, down the thicket of tall grass on the side of the house and then back around he would go, again and again and again.  If you wanted to laugh just watch that dog do laps around the house. It was better than paid entertainment. 

When P.J.’s family went to Utah for their annual summer holiday they filled their van with mom and dad, sisters Lena and Devan, suitcases for everyone, bicycles for everyone and way in the back sat P.J. with Wasatch. I never could figure how they got all that stuff into one mini van but the topper was how P.J. and a 60-pound Wasatch could sit together for a 20-hour ride. Only one who loved a dog and only a dog who loved a boy could do that.  

Wasatch was not allowed on the furniture so while you sat where he wanted to sit he would sit on the floor right in front of you and put his paw on your leg until you paid attention to him. It took about one second for him to get all the attention he wanted.

I remember when I visited the family Wasatch would recognize my scent and voice and come running to greet me. For the first several years of his life that meant there would be a small amount of pee deposited on the floor. He got excited to see me and I must admit I felt the same. While no one knew it I almost peed myself when I was greeting him. He just made everyone so darn happy.

He sat under the kitchen table when the family was having their meals. He was a member of the family and a meal was not the same if he was not under there waiting for something worth eating to drop.

Not a day went by that Wasatch did not make you smile, laugh or feel good. You see it is said that a dog is a man’s best friend. Well to me a dog defines the word friend.  Friends are often described by what they do for each other. Dogs do not ask for anything, they only give. They never judge, they never question and they never compete. They are there just for you. There is no ego in a dog. Forget to feed them on time, no problem, they are thrilled when it comes and harbor no ill will for it being late. Bring any emotion or mood to a dog; sadness, frustration, anger, anxiety and they will sense it, respond to it and just be there with you, asking for nothing and wanting nothing. 

When you are ready to toss the ball so are they. You want to go for a ride in the car? Let’s go, want lunch, hmmm, that’s a good idea. Go for a run? Me too. Tired? Let’s take a nap. It makes no difference what you want to do; a dog will want to do it too.

Wasatch was a companion, a friend and a part of our lives. We miss him and will always remember him. When asked if the pain is so great losing a dog, why get one? The answer is in the dog. The joy of having one will always over come the tragedy of losing one. Living is accepting risk, defeat and failure. It is the willingness to trust, to love, to give, to sacrifice all without asking for anything in return. When a person is willing to accept whatever happens both good and bad they are alive.  Having a dog in your life is a gift. If we are not willing to accept all that comes with the gift then we are not worthy of having it.

Wasatch was such a gift. All of us are so lucky we had him in our lives. We all accepted his love and our love for him unconditionally. He had to leave us and we have to accept that as a part of the gift he gave us. 

But he has earned a place in our hearts and will forever reside there as a constant reminder of how lucky we are to have lived with him.

WHY WE DON'T LEAD ANYMORE:
Last night I watched 60 Minutes, as I always do on Sunday nights, and was struck by a segment on an Italian company, Luxottica. It is the largest producer and distributor of eye ware, (glasses) in the world.  I kept thinking throughout the broadcast why is the largest producer of anything not in the United States?  In fact on another segment on the same show they discussed a Chinese company, Huawei that is now the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world followed by two others from Sweden, Eriksson and France, Al Ca Tel.  It was a disturbing shock that we have been the inventors and the leaders in these industries and are now down-the- line competitors to companies in other countries.  Why I asked?

My answer, while not over run with specifics to back up my thesis, is that the principal product of the United States today is MONEY. Sure we still have the inspired garage inventors creating things and the money people are still giving them money to scale up their products, but the long range strategy of these companies is to sell the company before profits are even on the horizon, or if there is sufficient revenue, go public.  In both cases the inventors and early investors get their money out and become part of the new rich, with bigger cars, planes, vacation homes and other toys for leisure that are the by product spoils for the inventors and investors.

But what happens to the companies and the products they made after the “get rich quick” sale takes place? Many of the companies go out of business, get absorbed into other product lines or simply vacillate between what was a good idea and is now an also ran product.

In colleges throughout the country we are educating our young in the art of business, basically the art of making money. They are not being taught the art of making something, creating something or even the art of selling something.

There is money to be made investing in other money opportunities, or money being made as a commission on monies transferred to other instruments, or monies made in tax schemes, or real estate transactions or swaps of some sort. The language of the moneyed workers has been reduced to jargon understood by only those few who have the degrees in how to make money moving money. Making money this way is not easy by any stretch of the imagination but it takes different skills and seems to be a far easier path to making huge money than making something that has to compete in a market of talented competitors.

Back to the Italian company, I got the impression the CEO wanted to make money, lots of it, but there did not seem to be a single thought of selling his company in order to buy that vacation home. Maybe as a CEO he already has one but it will be as a by-product of his commitment to making and selling a better product.  His company only got bigger by buying other companies and making them better for the markets they served. In fact in one instance they bought a company, Ray Ban, shut it down for a year until they re tooled, redesigned and improved the products. Can you imagine an American company doing such a thing? The CEO would be terminated on the spot, given his gazillions in parachute pay and been replaced that very day

We used to think like that in this country. But now we let others make the products, manage the people while we focus on making insane amounts of money for a few people, while the people who contributed to the success of the early launch or the ones who also ran a risk by getting involved in the first place are left with new managers, downsizing, off shoring and re-organization. Is it any wonder why employee morale is so low these days?

The young people give the impression they want to get involved in a start up, sell it to someone else and then use the money to get into hedge funds, investment banking or other money driven enterprises.  More and more I meet young people who work in some form of investments, insurance, banking or other non-manufacturing industries.

With the advent of technology, the axiomatic speed in which it operates and the overwhelming quickness products are obsolete, though more innovation, do you think the rest of the world will wait for us to imagine, create or make it and then they will copy it? I strongly doubt that. If we follow our current course of business and politics we will only be good for serving burgers, pizza and soda by the tub. The rest of the world will be enjoying our landscapes, waterways, mountains and our heritage, as wealthy visitors. But lucky for us they will still have to eat, rent cars, take taxis, have their rooms cleaned and their trash removed. The vast majority of Americans will be able to offer those services.

If we don’t get started now the future for us is over.