Observations from the road

I am not one to talk too much about work or too much about politics.  I don't talk about work because ultimately someone thinks I can give them a stock tip or help them time the market.  Not really my approach to things.  Or I can bore them to tears.  I don't talk much about politics because I feel that instead of talking about the government and what they should be doing, we should take that time to do something ourselves - we may find we are more productive...  But this week work and politics overlapped to make me reflective.
I did not watch the Presidents address the other night.  For one reason I find his delivery - no matter what the message - annoys me.  I find myself thinking - dont' they give classes on public speaking, surely someone could train/coach/teach him to refine his delivery?  And then I start thinking - Sam Seaborn and Aaron Sorkin could write a better speech, maybe they should be added as speech czars to Mr. Obamas staff.  The other reason - that really warrants more importance... I need to get up early on Thursday to go see a client.  By early I mean, the alarm went of at 4:45am and I was on the road in a rental car by 6am.
Ad that's where it all overlaps...
I was on my way to see one of the longest clients I have dealt with for my company.  When I interviewed this was the company they used as an example to discuss what my job would look like.  Funny - I was truly naive as to the client's industry before that time - call it a girl thing.  I was going to their plant.  Yes, a manufacturing plant...  At least 6 times a year, if not more, I find myself spending a day or 2 on-site in manufacturing plants that are still here in the US.  You think that is a novelty...?  You don't think the people I meet with don't understand what a novelty it is as well.  So off I go (leaving sick dog behind) and 3 hours later I arrive at their doorstep. 
And I am always awestruck by the experience...  I have been going to this location for years now so I go unescorted through the back door and into the plant.  It is a big building and there are shelves of stuff running down aisles after aisles all the way to the ceiling.  There are products for distribution.  There are parts for production.  There ARE areas that sit empty that used to hold products and/or people for a line that is no longer here in the US.  And I find myself in a back room with an internet connection to my laptop and a poor cell signal.  Today we are going to talk about the importance of saving and some other basics.  By the end of the day I will have heard amazing stories from everyday Americans.  I will saddened to hear some of them have family members on their way to war overseas.  Others have stories of volunteer work that make my donations of cash to the foodbank seem lazy.  There are young people eager to learn about this thing called planning.  There are older people thinking this is the year they will retire.  All of them have a sense of pride for who they are and what they do.  Most of them work hard for the money they make.  And I feel blessed that I have a job where I can try to help them put some of those pieces together for their future.
I never expected that to be the case when I took this job.  There are other aspects of this job that I thought were so interesting when I started.  Would really challenge the mind.  Really force me outside my area of knowledge.  I never thought that the days on the road talking to stranger after stranger would bring the best satisfaction.  If only everyone had the opportunity to spend some time with everyday America.  Then maybe we wouldn't focus so much on DC but maybe on our own backyard.