Page 33 - THE DECADES-LONG QA ODYSSEY Celebrating the 10th National QA Convention 2019

Inspirational Anecdotes 1.0

BUILD QUALITY INTO YOUR HOUSE “Where flowers blossom, so does hope”

-Lady Bird Johnson-

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house

building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss
the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a

personal favour. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work.
He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his
The Seed
career.

When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed The Cycle
the front-door key to the carpenter. “This is your house,” he said, “my gift to you.” The Plant

of Quality
What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done

it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.
Improvement

So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less
than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the

situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realised,
we would have done it differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think of your life as the house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a

board or erect a wall, build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day
more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity.

The plaque on the wall says, “Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Your life tomorrow will be the result of your

attitudes and the choices you make today. The Fruit

The Flower

Represents the output of the QA programme
(Author unknown) in relation to QA projects implemented

25 and the sharing of them in the series of QA 26 26
Conventions.

e Flo
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Th
er
The Plant Source: Wisdom & Inspiration for the Spirit and Soul, The Flower
Nancy Toussaint