He managed to have a
wonderful breakfast with his family before making the kids leave. It took longer
than normal for him to get dressed and ready to go. Sarah said she was trying
to help, but it took a lot longer to get showered with her helping him! When he
finally did manage to get ready and get out of the apartment door he couldn't
say he cared how late he was going to be. Samantha Johns walked out with him
and kept her mouth shut. The grin on her face was bad enough. James soon
learned that he was going to be seeing a lot of grins today. It seemed that the
word was out as to why the 'Ironman' was late reporting for duty this morning!
James spent the day putting things in order. He got his payback for the morning
when the last thing he did was to put Brigadier General Samantha Johns in
command until his return. He left the office whistling a tune while everyone
else was trying not to laugh at the stunned look on her face. General Hodges
did laugh at her and got a hard look for it! James spent a full seven days away
from things. He spent five of those days at the farm in Virginia with his
folks.
When he got back he
felt like a new man again. He had forgotten what this was all about. He had
forgotten what he had been working to restore. Those few short days had let him
get it all straight in his mind again. He had worked with and talked with his
dad. He had eaten his mom's cooking. He had spent time playing games with and
teasing his sisters. He had watched his kids playing with their kids. James had
gotten a good look at what the people of the nation had lost and he had seen
the proof that it was still possible to get it back. When he got back from his
break James spent several days working in a secure area with a handful of
people that he truly trusted. He spent some time explaining what he had come to
realize the people needed more than they needed the material things that he had
been working so hard to provide for them. Then he asked those few people he had
called together to help him find a way to give that to the people. James made
them understand and believe that it truly wasn't the material stuff that
mattered. The people had to have food and shelter, but they had to learn that
wasn't all they needed too. If they wanted food and shelter they would have to
learn how to work for it. The people had to learn that it was up to them to
keep those things. James could restore everything to perfect working condition,
but unless they were willing work to keep it that way... it couldn't last. The
people had to do their part. They had to learn to believe in themselves. They
had to find faith. They had to learn to love. Faith and love were what the
people needed more than anything material that James could provide. Those were
the intangible things that the people had lost. Those were the things that they
needed to get back the most. There was little faith and even less love among
the people. James had to figure out how to show the people how to believe
again... and to love again!
At first everyone
thought he was joking. When they figured out he was completely serious they
thought he had finally gone nuts. But James kept talking until they really
heard what he was saying. He talked until they listened and began to see it for
themselves. They still didn't think anyone could teach people how to love, but
they did agree that even a little faith and love would make things go a lot
better. James told them that you couldn't teach love or faith, but you could
give love and show faith. Once they had agreed to that; it was a simple step to
start working to show the people faith and give them the love. James was
convinced that the people needed to see faith and feel love before they could
find either for themselves. When they had finally worked out a plan to use more
faith and love in their operations they took it off the board and put it in
action. It wasn't huge changes in what they had been doing. In fact it was the
same basic plan only they worked harder at getting the people involved, so they
could see and feel the love and faith of those working to restore their lives.
That became the first goal and the last goal for everything that they did. The
new goal was to get the people directly involved in everything; from the start
to the finish of every project. James was convinced that if the people were
directly involved they would see the faith and feel the love at work. That
would help them to find their own faith and learn to love again.
At first it had been
a lot harder than even the worst predictions by those who doubted this new
path. A lot of the people simply refused to believe that they had to be a part
of restoring their own lives to normal. As time passed James learned what would
and wouldn't work with different people and situations. They stayed at it and
as the weeks passed many of the people began to respond more positively. The
more people they got involved the more people there were who were willing to
give it a try. James still had to count on troops in the worst areas to keep
order and give him time to do the rebuilding that had to be done. But now he
had a lot more hands and a lot more hearts working to make good things happen.
James did have more problems with the politicians, mostly because part of his
efforts caused some people to wait even longer for things to get back to
normal. The people who refused to lift a hand to help restore things were the
people who waited the longest to get help. If you wanted help then you first
had to try to help yourself. As it turned out it was most often the people
living in the government run developments who weren't willing to make any
effort to help themselves. Those were the very people that the politicians
seemed to be the most worried about, so James was even less popular with the
politicians now.
James had been the
only one who believed that it would make a difference when they started trying
to show the people how to have faith and how to love. At first the doubters
seemed to be right, but slowly things changed. As the people worked alongside
the troops and all the others who were trying to help them they began to
change. They became more positive and they started to look for and expect
better days ahead. They started to smile and even to laugh. They showed faith
in the future and they demonstrated their love for those who were trying to
help them make the future better. It wasn't a sudden or dramatic change. It was
slow and gradual, but it was changing! James saw it and the people around him
saw it. The more they saw, the more they believed and the harder they worked.
That extra effort in turn paid back with more people standing up and stepping
forward to work with them. James had been right when he had told them that
faith and love were both contagious. James had been convinced that if he could
expose the people to faith and love for long enough they would catch them both
and they had!
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