 North Carolina Locksmiths Association, Inc.
58 General Lee Ave.
Linden, NC 28390
(910) 273-4926
Dear NCLA Family, Happy fourth quarter! Wow, has this year flown by. We are approaching our last meeting for the year in Durham, NC. We have a few things going on that will take place at the meeting. We will be voting in new members, ratifying by acclamation due to running unopposed (President - Waldo Smith, III, First Vice President - Brandon Whigham, Second Vice President - Roy Young, Treasurer - Jennifer Richards, Asst. Treasurer - John Campbell, Sargent at Arms - David Moore, Asst. Sargent at Arms - Reid Skinner), choosing two (2) Board Members (Joseph Ham, Bobby Connelly and David Turner), and two proposed By-Laws amendments (Article II Meetings, Section 1. This Association shall convene a at least two (2) General Membership Meetings quarterly each year during the Months of February, May, August and November. These Meetings will be held at locations approved by the Executive Board. The Trade Show will be held at the Quarterly Meeting in February. and Article II Meetings, Section 4. General Membership Business may be conducted only when a Quorum is present. A Quorum shall consist of at least 40 of the majority of members registered at the Quarterly General Membership Business Meeting, and this Quorum shall decide all issues coming before the membership, except as provided for elsewhere in the By-Laws. The current Roberts Rules of Order may be used as a parliamentary guide where applicable and consistent with the By-Laws of this association.). I would like to take a few minutes and talk about pride. I have thought a lot about pride recently and have in the past found myself to be prideful. I have been working on this a lot in hopes to never come across as prideful or arrogant. We live in a culture of pride. I do believe there is a healthy pride, but in most cases, pride causes lots of problems. I can remember years ago when we were working on growth in our company and there was a sense of pride that came with it. As you grow and as you obtain higher status in careers, clubs, government, and so forth we tend to expect better treatment or brag about who or what we know. We expect better service, because “Hey, don’t you know who I am?” The Bible says pride goes before destruction, but it also says, when pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. Humility, now that is a funny concept. Over the last few years, I have had to learn to say I’m sorry. I find it fascinating that when one of our children misbehaves and needs to apologize, you think they would just say, I’m sorry and get right back to playing. Well, you would be wrong. They will fight tooth and nail to keep from apologizing. I mean, they will take a greater punishment rather than apologize. It is very apparent, even at such a young age we struggle with pride. When we have an error on a job, have miscommunications, or just flat out mess up, we should be quick to apologize and make it right. It is ok to be wrong and admit it. It takes a lot more courage and strength to own up to something than to not. I don’t see humility as weakness, but a strength. Remember, with humility comes wisdom. I didn’t say it, the creator of the universe said that. I think He knows way better than I do. I have had to defuse lots of situations over the years and they were all defused with humility and not arrogance/pride. Unfortunately, I haven’t been perfect at it, but I am trying. It has been difficult with today’s culture, but we are called to be different. What I have learned so far is that people are attracted to nice people. Some people over the years have left because of various reasons, but most of those reasons can come down to pride. People tell me all the time that my grandfather would be proud. I believe he would be, but I would much rather him say that he was well pleased with me and not my accomplishments. Two culture points from our shop I would like to leave you with: |