Laugh, Think, and Cry -- All in a Day's Work

Jim Valvano is famous for many things, but he may be most recognizable for his 1993 ESPY award speech. In it, he said, “There are three things we all should do every day. No. 1 is laugh — you should laugh every day. No. 2 is think — you should spend some time in thought. And No. 3 is you should have your emotions moved to tears — could be happiness or joy. But think about it — if you laugh, you think, and you cry … that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. If you do that seven days a week, you’re gonna have something special.” My coworkers here at The NEWS were well aware of the fact that I enjoy laughing long before I offered up that little nugget of truth. I would like to assume that they know I think as a result of my thought-provoking questions and suggestions that I spew out all throughout the day from behind the walls of my inspirational cubicle. However, I will say that they all seemed pretty shocked to hear to me say that I cry almost every day. And, let’s be honest here…”seemed pretty shocked” is an understatement. I had to walk around and pick up their jaws off the floor! “What do you cry about?!” they asked in disbelief. The real answer is, I don’t know why I cry so much. But I do know that I wasn’t always this way. I used to never cry, and if I felt tears coming — I did everything I could to stop them from rolling down my cheek. But, as all things in life do, I changed. I’m a crier now. There I said it. I don’t mind the change. I’m not trying to get back to being the girl with the rigid, stone face who never cries. But, if I was, I would absolutely have to quit my job. There’s no way I could write for an HVAC magazine if I was trying to earn my 30-day chip in criers anonymous. I never would have guessed it before starting my job here last year, but the HVAC industry is filled with tear-jerking stories. My friends make fun of me because I read the last line of a book to decide whether or not I am going to read it. At work, all I can do is read the subject line on my email to decide whether or not I’m going to read the press release. So far, my coworkers have been great at dealing with my loud voice and frequent bursts of laughter. I don’t know how they would feel if I added sobbing and using excessive amounts of tissue to the mix. It seems as though I could fulfill my position as web editor simply posting stories about manufacturers, distributors, and contractors around the country who are changing lives through random acts of kindness and generous donations. The Joseph Groh Foundation always gets me. And then there’s contractors like Service Champions in Brea, California, where installation supervisor, Octavio Medina constantly goes out of his way to prove to people that it’s the simple things in life that matter — like buying someone a happy meal to turn their frown upside down or running into burning homes, saving lives. That’s an actual day in the life of an HVAC tech?! Are you kidding me? At first, I didn’t really make the connection between Service World Expo and the theme of “Discover Your Superpower.” But, now, I totally get it. This industry is filled with real-life superheroes. They spend most of their days fighting off the weather, but it appears as though they take every opportunity to take that fight to the heart of what matters — their communities. So many of the human-interest stories I read allow me to fulfill the requirements of a complete day. Thank you to the HVAC industry for all your hard work, but mostly for your heart. It’s people like you who inspire me to laugh, think, and cry, and Valvano was right — that truly is something special.