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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Tough break becomes ‘better off’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Note to readers: Jim Wooten’s next new Thinking Right entry will post Friday morning.
In a world where no industry is immune from competition or from changing technologies —- as newspaper reporters and editors across America are now discovering —- Georgians like Roy Braswell of Sandersville are worth knowing.
All of us have a tendency to notice economic transformation when it affects us, or the people we know.
But owing to global competition, a lot of folks employed in manufacturing have been dealing with major and unexpected change in their lives. That’s why Roy Braswell is instructive. Those who handle it well, and even prosper from it, like Braswell, have a strong work ethic, a positive outlook and a determination to bounce back, playing the hand they’re dealt.
Braswell was 57 when he started over. Except for delivering The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Augusta Chronicle to about 100 customers in Washington County and a brief stint in a home-canning plant in his youth, Braswell gave 38 years of his working life to one employer.
In April of 2005, rumors that the plant would close became an official 60-day notice. Lapp Insulator Co. closed its Sandersville plant.
Braswell did start over. Attitude and the strong work ethic that had kept him loyal to one employer for 38 years prompted a new employer coming to town to hire him even before he graduated with honors at the age of 59 from Sandersville Technical College.
He was hired by Trojan Battery Co. as a maintenance technician months before graduating. “The job I have now, I hate to say it, but if they had closed down earlier and I could get the job I’ve got now, I would be a lot better off,” he said.
When the plant closed, he and other workers had a chance to go back to school, relying on state and federal assistance. “I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go back to school. You’re old and you can’t remember and stuff. I just didn’t want to fail when I went back, that was the main thing. [At Sandersville Technical College] they worked with you. You had good instructors; they were wonderful.
“Once the first quarter was over, I kind of enjoyed it. I had always wanted to go back to school, and the plant closed and there was the opportunity. They don’t come along much.
“I grew up in Davisboro and I have been here all my life. My mother is still here. She kept asking me what I was going to do. I kept saying, ‘Something will come along; it might not be making the same amount of money, but I always thought I could get a job, and it wouldn’t be working at Wal-Mart being a greeter.
“I always had the feeling that I could find me a job. That’s what kept me going. … My truck was paid for; our house was paid for. … All the while I was in technical school, I never thought I would be working in the field I was studying. … I went on four or five interviews. I knew they were probably looking for somebody younger.”
Over the 38 years with Lapp, “I go to work every day. I always put my schedule around my job. I always tried to be on time; I was very seldom late. Mama raised us like that. I reckon it’s something she put on us. If you were a Braswell, you’ve got to be on time. My sisters are that way, too.
“In the neighborhood, we had pretty good friends. On the street we stayed on, everybody looked out for everybody else. It was a neighborhood thing. Everybody on the street did good, some of them better than us. They went to college and things. We had a small elementary school and the teachers knew everybody. You didn’t go out and embarrass your mama and your daddy.”
Though his job went away just short of his retirement eligibility, Braswell holds no ill-will. “It did not dawn on me, not for no bad feelings,” he said. “I’m sure it was a business decision. It wasn’t like that they came in one day and just took my job because they want to take my job.”
A strong work ethic.
A positive outlook.
A strong determination to bounce back.
Playing the hand you’re dealt without bitterness or blame.
That’s Roy Braswell.
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