From The Storyteller
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Hello All: April 15 (which just happens to be one of our daughters birthday) made the word extension seem relevant: I hope you can relate. Enjoy. Doug
Extension “If you can’t file your tax return by April 15th, you need to get an extension”, words my father offered as I entered the adult world. Preparing my first income tax return happened at age 20. The Air Force had paid me more than $600 in one year (not much over but enough) and I was required to file. It was several years before I realized that all that was required to get a filing extension was filling out a form, and the filing date became July 15. A few years later I learned the wording to get an extension moving the filing date back to Oct 15. Then, one day it dawned on me that getting extensions didn’t not eliminate my tax obligation. Which brings me to the question that appears on virtually all job applications. It goes something like this, “Highest grade completed; graduate yes or no” It never asks, “if not, why not”. To me this limited response misses the applications whole purpose, which is finding the best person for a position. The question assumes that graduating from a program is the best way to predict success on a job, and I don’t find that to be true. I always want to hear the “why not” story, because the story tells more about the character of a person than “graduate, yes or no”. I find listening to “why not” stories revealing. For me, hearing a willingness to take responsibility for mistakes, and an honest effort to correct them, carries more weight than a simple “yes or no”. Which leads me to the reality that no matter how many extensions I get, my tax obligation stays the same, and no matter how many graduating “yeses” a person might have, their character basically stays the same. Moral: Our “why not” stories tell a lot about us. |