A Bio for the Board Election

If you were asked to write an auto-biography on one page, what would you say? I suppose it would depend on who you thought the audience would be. Here is one I wrote for a condo board election coming up soon.

David May

I am the former Social Service Director for Ramsey County. As such, I. oversaw a team who broke all records for the numbers of foster children who were placed in adoptive homes. I then became the District Administrator for the Florida Department of Children and Families in West Palm Beach and broke the same records in that district.

Charlene and I moved into Lexington-Riverside in August 2012 and immediately moved to Port au Prince, Haiti, to host a guest house for medical mission teams for two years. We came home here in 2014 and have been here for six years. We were raised in Memphis and are delighted to be back on the Mississippi River.

We love Lexington-Riverside. When Charlene and I came here we determined to help the residence become more of a community, to be more like a neighborhood of friendly neighbors. Whether elected or not, we will continue that effort. 

I put out the monthly newsletter, “Down by the Riverside.” Charlene agreed to chair the Social Committee and I make most of the flyers and help them balance the books. I co-chaired the Water Committee for a while and opened it to everyone interested. I sat on the Amenities Committee for as long as it lasted and am a member of the Recycling Committee. I was a board member here for one year.

I was a Captain in the United States Marine Corps, with time in Viet Nam during the war. I served as an elder in two churches, one in Florida and one in Minnesota. I am the author of five books, and Charlene has published one as well. All our writings are aimed at encouraging others to help anyone they encounter who could benefit from their assistance.

If I am elected to the board, I will approach each issue seriously, keeping a watch on the budget, the short-term need, the long-term benefit and the effect on property values. Thank you for the opportunity to stand for election.

Hummmpf! Blogs!

Well am I ever behind? When Magalie left I lost interest in this blog. It didn't have a serious purpose. I think the purpose has to be to talk about me and the family and what we are thinking and doing. I see problems with that format. 1) I'm shy. 2) I don't want to appear to be self-focused (I'm shy). 3) I want to respect the privacy of my family and others with whom I deal. 4) A lot of what we do is boring and I don't want to bore folks. 5) I know a blog needs to be kept up in order to keep interest and I'm not sure I have the diligence to keep it up (as witnessed by the last several months of inactivity).

Why would I bother with a blog, If I am not really interested in drawing attention to myself? Basically I have some ideas I want to promote. As I have researched how to market these ideas, what I have learned is that I need an identity to tie them together. That identity is me. If I were a corporation or a church or an agency of some kind, I could hide behind that identity, but in reality it's just me. So, I have to market me in order to market the ideas. That sounds crude to me - downright repulsive.

But it's really about integrity. I decided a long time ago that who I am is a single individual. I am not someone at work, someone else at home and a third person at church. Being the same person wherever you are is the definition of integrity. And my ideas, my way of looking at the church and at God's will for our lives is a part of who I am, wherever I am. It is with me at the Minnesota State Fair or in Port au Prince, Haiti. I can't separate the ideas from what we do, though I do work at not being a bore by talking about them all the time.

One thing I keep forgetting, that makes it a little easier, is that "marketing" ideas is not about trading money for something. All the money from the sale of the books goes into publishing more books and making a few copies available to give away. My ultimate motivation is to further the kingdom of God. I need to pray that He will teach me how to do that without becoming prideful.

So here goes. I am going to attempt to keep this blog up with family news and thoughts on what's going on in the world. See also my web site which badly needs an update as well. Started working on that this morning.