The People We Never See

I recently read an article in The Washington Post about a man named Eugene Allen. You probably never heard of him, but Mr. Allen died on March 31 of this year. I don't knw what month he was born, but the year was 1919, so he was either 91 or on the shady side 90.

The reason you may have never heard of Mr. Allen is that he was a butler, a very special butler. He waited on presidents, heads of state and a cast of thousands of dignitaries in his 50+ years in the White House. Near the end of his career, first lady Nancy Reagan invited him to attend a White House dinner along with his wife Helene. Such an invitation had never been offered before. Mr. Allen and his wife ate dinner with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and danced under the beautiful White House chandeliers.


Mr. Allen watched the parade of history that passed through the White House and the one thing he and his wife wanted to do before they left this world that had hardly noticed them was to vote for the new presidential nominee, Barack Obama. But before this could happen, Mrs. Allen died. However, Mr. Allen was one of the faceless millions who went to the polls to cast their vote for our first black president. His long service was remembered with a premier invitation to the inauguration.


Mr. Allen was laid to rest in the clothes that he often wore in the White House while waiting on all those dignitaries--a grey evening suit, a White House pin on his lapel and a pair of snow white gloves on his hands.


As I read this article, I thought of all the people we never see, but who make our lives so much richer through the menial and sometimes difficult and dangerous work they do. You and I see them every day--the people who clean the malls we visit, the man who picks up and empties your trash can a couple of times a week, the electricians who are out in the storm replacing the transformer that went out down the street, the people who clean the rest rooms is so many places and the people who stock the shelves in the grocery store.

These folks are everywhere and no where. They are invisible to most of us.

I never see the person (don't know if that person is male or female) who delivers my newspaper. And I make the payment on the internet--when I was a youngster delivering the paper, we knocked on doors and collected the payment for the paper. What about the meter reader who used to come by and read your water and electric meters? Now they dirve by and read it electronically.

After I retired from the Navy, I worked at a university. The university faculty did a lot of scientific research and were sure the universe revolved around them. They complained about the administrative folks, the char force and the folks that worked on the loading dock. I used to remind them that without these folks, they would not get anything done--they wouldn't get paid, they wouldn't have funds, they wouldn't have supplies, they wouldn't be able to get into any of their spaces for all the junk they left laying around, and the lights, heat and water wouldn't work.

The next time you see one of these invisible people, try to find the time to thank them for the job they do. You will be surprised at the smiles you will generate.

My two cents worth.