Did You Get One of These?

I empty my mailbox once a week whether I need to or not. And what should I find in my mailbox this past week but an 8.5 x 11 inch envelope with an admonition to the postal carrier that he or she shall not handle it with an uncaring mind.

What should lie within the confines of this envelope? None other than my once-in-a-lifetime invitation to the glorious Inauguration of Barack H. Obama and Joseph R. Biden as President and Vice-President of the United States, respectively. (Click to enlarge) Alas, but I will not be able to attend, but it’s nice to be invited.

Instead I will be attending a far more local and less pricey (at $35) Inaugural Ball in the backyard of Tom DeLayville: the Sugar Creek Country Club.

A million of us, donors to the campaign of Barack Obama, received this invitation. But that’s really the best part of this story.

As reported here, Precise Continental, a printing firm in Brooklyn, New York was about to effect a 4-day work week for its 65 employees. Said shop owner Jim Donnelly:

“I was cautioning them about January that business didn't look good.”

In the meantime, the Obama campaign was looking for a strong union shop that used recycled paper for its feedstock. It settled on Precise Continental for those reasons. And the fact is, it turned a dismal holiday season into a boom.

“’The average employee went home last Wednesday with two-and-a-half-weeks check because of all the overtime they put in,’ Donnelly said. ‘You can buy a lot of Christmas presents with that.’”

So really, it’s more than just to be a one-in-a-million recipient of this union-produced memento of an historic event. It’s the story behind it.

A story that gives me hope for the future of our country.