It wasn’t a good day at work.

I had to bring this young engineer into my office and tell him to shut up.

He’s young, and like many young kids he gets a bit mouthy, especially in the hallways where other people can hear him.

Sure, we’d all like to make more money and sometimes the promotions come slow – but complaining about it publicly is never a good thing.

I remember what it’s like to be him.

When you’re 22 you own the world and you know you can do anything you want and do it well…and you want it now.

I have to remember nobody knows the rules in their first job.

We don’t come out of college with a sheet of paper telling us what we should and should not do to stay out of the politics of the office.

Be nice, be appropriate, don’t risk, don’t push.

I don’t remember when the enthusiasm of youth goes away.

When you have a mortgage or a couple of kids or the corporation finally beats you down?

When the boss (me) sits you down and tries to tell you it’s time to grow up without breaking your spirit can be a difficult thing.

I look at some of the pricks running departments today and wonder how they ever were considered good enough to be in a position to affect someone’s whole life.

People like me don’t leave legacies.

The things we built were done with others, and they probably will be torn down and rebuilt again and again.

We just try to live a decent life, cry in private over what our country is turning in to and maybe leave things a little better than how we found them.

For people like me, our legacy is molding young men and women into something special and keeping their soul alive until they can survive on their own.

I guess that’s okay.