{"id":1805,"date":"2017-09-20T12:05:53","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T18:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.interestingauthors.com\/blog\/?p=1804"},"modified":"2017-09-22T18:15:13","modified_gmt":"2017-09-23T00:15:13","slug":"a-signature-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/","title":{"rendered":"A Signature Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every person has a story and a dream at some point in their life. If we listen, everyone has a lesson, too. We don’t always need our ears to hear.<\/p>\n

I started this communiqu\u00e9 with five hundred words about “Signature Stories.” They’re a little narrative about us, easy to remember, intriguing, and genuine. They offer an engaging and strategic message to promote our work or our product. The commercial us.<\/p>\n

The erase button took all that away last weekend.<\/p>\n

My wife surprised me when she asked for two single dollar bills from my wallet. We sat in traffic just leaving consumerism’s paradise-on-earth, a Costco warehouse. We bought far more than was needed and were headed home to put our booty away. As we pulled closer for our turn at the stop light, she had me roll down my window and give the two dollars to a homeless man sporting a hand-printed cardboard sign. I seen him before but never stopped. This time, I read: “Veteran\u2026homeless\u2026dog and me\u2026god bless you\u2026please help.”<\/p>\n

That’s a lot for a sign. When he reached for the money, his face and his eyes told me far more than the penciled words. Desperate, reduced to begging, addictive personality, willing to slip out of the world with barely a ripple and happy to go, if I promise to help him feel nothing.<\/p>\n

Jane told me from now on, singles needed to be available in the car. I eyed the coin catcher but she said no, that’s insulting. It has to be two dollars at least, and not one. They’ve already suffered enough humiliation.<\/p>\n

I tried to formulate practicalities having heard all the New Orleans stories of meth-heads and five hundred dollars in a day street people, driving away in their Mercedes\u2026 A thousand stories in the big city, some with merit, most with a broken man or woman at their center. Much like the fellow standing before me.<\/p>\n

I filled the car’s little cubby with the remainder of my ones. She did the same.<\/p>\n

Are two bucks shoved out a window help? Probably not and this leaves me conflicted. What’s my next step? I wasn’t sure. The fact he’s not waiting at my front door or in a lawn chair at the driveway doesn’t mean I’m out of the woods.<\/p>\n

So, this morning, instead of writing, I struggled with investigating charities\u2026Charity Navigator<\/a>\u2026 and tried not to listen to the rave stories inside my head. I actually found a couple with low CEO salaries and a very high proportion of contributions going to their cause. So, I wrote a check.<\/p>\n

I don’t know if every street corner person will benefit from my small gift, but for me, this little exercise puts Costco in a whole new light. Sunday Breakfast Mission and Samaritan’s Purse won’t even notice my little bump, but it’s important I give. Don’t ask me why, I just know it, that’s all.<\/p>\n

And of course, we still keep singles in the car’s tray just in case, and for the next guy who slipped through the cracks.<\/p>\n

I gotta chuckle, however. You ought to see the waitress’ eye rolls when I ask for my change in singles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every person has a story and a dream at some point in their life. If we listen, everyone has a lesson, too. We don’t always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1661,1662,1663,1664,1665,1666,1060],"class_list":["post-1805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-charities","tag-homeless","tag-personal-responsibility","tag-samaritans-purse","tag-signature-stories","tag-sunday-breakfast-mission","tag-veterans"],"yoast_head":"\nA Signature Story – Interesting Authors Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Signature Story – Interesting Authors Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every person has a story and a dream at some point in their life. If we listen, everyone has a lesson, too. We don’t always […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Interesting Authors Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/interestingauthors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-20T18:05:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-09-23T00:15:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Roland Hughes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@i_authors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@i_authors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Roland Hughes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/uncategorized\\\/a-signature-story\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/uncategorized\\\/a-signature-story\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Roland Hughes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/201fb4544222c3251b52ed4a386184ee\"},\"headline\":\"A Signature Story\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-20T18:05:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-23T00:15:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/uncategorized\\\/a-signature-story\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":556,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"charities\",\"homeless\",\"personal responsibility\",\"Samaritan's Purse\",\"signature stories\",\"Sunday Breakfast Mission\",\"veterans\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/uncategorized\\\/a-signature-story\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/uncategorized\\\/a-signature-story\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/uncategorized\\\/a-signature-story\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Signature Story – Interesting Authors Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-20T18:05:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-23T00:15:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/uncategorized\\\/a-signature-story\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/uncategorized\\\/a-signature-story\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/uncategorized\\\/a-signature-story\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Signature Story\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Interesting Authors Blog\",\"description\":\"Thoughts and words from some interesting authors\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Interesting Authors\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i2.wp.com\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/iaLogo.jpg?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i2.wp.com\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/iaLogo.jpg?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1\",\"width\":180,\"height\":180,\"caption\":\"Interesting Authors\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/interestingauthors\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/i_authors\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/201fb4544222c3251b52ed4a386184ee\",\"name\":\"Roland Hughes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Roland Hughes\"},\"description\":\"Roland Hughes is the president of Logikal Solutions, a business applications consulting firm specializing in OpenVMS platforms and Qt on Linux. Hughes serves as a lead consultant with over two decades of experience using computers and operating systems. With a degree in Computer Information Systems, the author's experience is focused on systems across a variety of diverse industries including heavy equipment manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, stock exchanges, tax accounting, and hardware value-added resellers, to name a few. Working throughout these industries has strengthened the author's unique skill set and given him a broad perspective on the role and value of technology in industry.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interestingauthors.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/rolandlogikalsolutions-com\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Signature Story – Interesting Authors Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Signature Story – Interesting Authors Blog","og_description":"Every person has a story and a dream at some point in their life. If we listen, everyone has a lesson, too. We don’t always […]","og_url":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/","og_site_name":"Interesting Authors Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/interestingauthors\/","article_published_time":"2017-09-20T18:05:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-09-23T00:15:13+00:00","author":"Roland Hughes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@i_authors","twitter_site":"@i_authors","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Roland Hughes","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/"},"author":{"name":"Roland Hughes","@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/201fb4544222c3251b52ed4a386184ee"},"headline":"A Signature Story","datePublished":"2017-09-20T18:05:53+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-23T00:15:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/"},"wordCount":556,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["charities","homeless","personal responsibility","Samaritan's Purse","signature stories","Sunday Breakfast Mission","veterans"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/","url":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/","name":"A Signature Story – Interesting Authors Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-09-20T18:05:53+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-23T00:15:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/a-signature-story\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Signature Story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/","name":"Interesting Authors Blog","description":"Thoughts and words from some interesting authors","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Interesting Authors","url":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/iaLogo.jpg?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/iaLogo.jpg?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","width":180,"height":180,"caption":"Interesting Authors"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/interestingauthors\/","https:\/\/x.com\/i_authors"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/201fb4544222c3251b52ed4a386184ee","name":"Roland Hughes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Roland Hughes"},"description":"Roland Hughes is the president of Logikal Solutions, a business applications consulting firm specializing in OpenVMS platforms and Qt on Linux. Hughes serves as a lead consultant with over two decades of experience using computers and operating systems. With a degree in Computer Information Systems, the author's experience is focused on systems across a variety of diverse industries including heavy equipment manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, stock exchanges, tax accounting, and hardware value-added resellers, to name a few. Working throughout these industries has strengthened the author's unique skill set and given him a broad perspective on the role and value of technology in industry.","sameAs":["http:\/\/interestingauthors.com"],"url":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/author\/rolandlogikalsolutions-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1805\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}