We’re the Pros from Dover

 I learnt a great deal from MASH, most especially that a proper dry martini has the vermouth bottle waved over the top of the shaker, with the cap still on. However one of may favorite lines was not from the TV Show, but rather from the movie.

We’re the Pros from Dover

Now without reading the book the meaning is a bit obscure (it was Hawkeyes way of scamming a free round of golf) but most take it to mean the best of the best are in the room, and that is how I use it in real life. Funnily enough a certain parental unit of mine used something a bit like the meaning in the book to get a job as a Golf Pro at a department store in his youth. He said he had won the Hamilton Open and was hired on the spot. There was no such tournament as the Hamilton Open at the time but he was working in a country that is essentially a giant prison full of thieving mongrels so who cares? :)

I also learned from MASH (and maybe just realized it fully as I write this) that no matter how bad the situation there can be time for laughter, however there also needs to be time for tears. Also often the person who is most the clown may be the one that most needs help.

There is time to come together as a team and there are also times when you need the best person to do the job on the job. Winchester once said ‘I do one thing at a time, I do it very well, and then I move on’. Now that may be good in certain situations but now men have to be more like women, in other words we need to be able to multitask :) Everyone needs to pitch in when needed, Henry and Col Potter were both cutters, not at the Hawkeye or Winchester level, but they got arms deep when needed. However when the pros were needed the pros did the job, because they did it best. Every company needs pros to do the job but they also need support as pros don’t know everything, even when they think they do, actually especially when they think they do. A wise person is one that knows their strengths and weaknesses and also the strengths of those around them. I personally know bugger all about what I do so I defer to the pros, I don’t bullshit the customer, I get the right people to answer the question/solve the problem and that is one of my strengths.

Yes sometimes this Poets Day blog is a bit deeper than other times, but life is like that. Sometimes you have to stop chasing nurses, or doctors or people that wear dresses that shouldn’t, and get elbow deep in something to fix it. Yes, still a MASH reference.

At the same time y’all need to have some fun. Good morale is good for all. Enjoying what you are doing, even if it is not what you want to be doing, makes life a whole lot more enjoyable. There are always going to be bumps in the road, helicopters bringing in more wounded, and sometimes a plane that should take someone safely home gets shot down over the Sea of Japan. But that is what this whole thing we are doing is about. I believe Sidney Friedman said it best. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice.’

So work hard, play hard and earn your inspiration.

Happy Poets Day