SERVICE CHRONICLES - Afterword

I hope you enjoyed riding along in that ’67 Caddy with my alter ego. I see Ron Canyon’s road trip as everyman’s journey.

Ron and his alter ego, Siruckus, are creations of my imagination. When I was relocating from Seattle to Dripping Springs, I wanted to tell a story that explored Service in America and pose questions about what had happened to it. A big fan of the noir detective movies and books, I created Ron as a Trader of the Lost Art of Service.

Equally enamored with mystical characters like Bagger Vance and Donald Shimoda, I fashioned Siruckus to challenge Ron and push him to stretch and explore his ideas about the decline and fall of service in our great country.

Whether it is your search for meaning, or your hero’s journey, or even your quest for personal purpose, it’s our nature to find meaning and truth and hold it up to the evidence of our lives. My passion for service, and as I’ve come to understand, the distinction of authentic service, is what gives meaning and purpose to life and has become my raison d'etre.

I see service as the singular core value that provides the foundation from which all other values can emerge and thrive. Without authentic service, all other core values so frequently expressed in visions around the country are toothless. They have no bite without authentic service as the CORE value.

It is service to mankind that I have learned along this way. Unless you have the heart of a servant, you will only end up self-serving. And you can’t change “a world gone shallow and a world gone lean” (Stay Alive) when you are focused on your own happiness, without serving your own personal vision, your purpose, helping others and striving to make your neighborhood, your town, your country, your world a better place.

A storm is brewing!

There is a truth and it’s on our side

Dawn is coming, open your eyes

Look into the sun as the new days rise

~“Stay Alive” by José González