Ezra and Hadassah: David vs. Goliath aka The Day My Parents Got Electricity

I've told you before that my folks surprize me with their tenacity when facing hard things. What most people don't understand when they talk to my parents, is that their disabilities don't limit them. Just as in the Bible story of David and Goliath, no one expects Ralph and Claudia to be capable of taking on big things, like the State of Oregon. I read a business article that perfectly explains my folks advantage when dealing with the world. 3 things people get wrong about david vs goliath My parents as a team, are the modern day David and they know how use their sling. You are looking at a photo of my parents latest victory.

You mess with the bull, you get the horn

To understand the story, the first thing you have to know is that Ralph and Claudia live in a nursing home a couple of miles from my house. Since my parents never had the ability to earn substantial income during their working years, they live in nursing home that accepts the elderly poor. We got lucky when they moved there, it is a nursing home of hard working, caring people who do their very best to meet the needs of their patients. I've seen enough horrible nursing homes to know the difference.

The only downside to the nursing home is that the building is old. It was built before computers, the internet, cable tv and many things we consider common place even existed. The nursing home staff and patients regularly struggle with the realities of working and living in an old building. One problem became apparent on the first day my parents moved in. There weren't enough electrical outlets in their room. Unlike most nursing home residents, my mother has a computer, printer and full array of technology that she uses daily.

I bought electrical power strips to handle Claudia's need for more outlets. Bada-bing, bada boom, problem solved. My solution lasted long enough for the maintenance man to see what I had done and to declare it illegal. The power strips I bought at Wal-mart were plastic and fire codes said only metal power strips were allowed. Annoyed but compliant, I hunted down expensive metal power strips and installed them. Once again, all was well in the world.

Recently that balance was disrupted. New administration at the nursing home decided that my parents had too many electrical devices in use at the same time and that it was a fire hazard. My parents were going to have to rearrange their room to better spread out the electrical load (which was very upsetting to them), or stop using their appliances. The metal power strip solution wasn't good enough. Of course, I got phone calls about the problem. I was sympathetic to both my parents and the nursing home. I understood Ralph and Claudia wanted use their fan to circulate the air, their mini refrigerator to keep snacks chilled, their radio to listen to music, their dvd player to watch movies, etc., etc. Completely reasonable requests, but what can you do? The fire code said it was too much for the room. Once again, the injustice of being poor affected them.

Claudia and Ralph groused about the situation for days. I realized the problem wasn't going away on its own. They didn't want to hassle with the solution the nursing home came up with, which was to constantly plug and unplug each electrical appliance each time they used it. Claudia pointed out that the outlet was not easily reached, and the tv and refrigerator used up the whole outlet anyway. In frustration, I suggested the only thing that seemed reasonable to me. My idea was they should stop talking about the problem and in a few days, they should plug back in their power strip and no one would notice. It was your basic "If you are quiet, no one will care" solution. Yeah....not my proudest moment in life, but what can I say? I was tired of hearing about electrical outlets.

Claudia and Ralph would have none of that. Since the nursing home wasn't making their problem a priority (which I do not hold against the nursing home, at all), and I told them to be devious, they took matters into their own hands. They were determined to get electricity in their room and it was going to be legal and honest. Claudia told me she was going to call the fire marshall and confirm one way or the other, if their metal power strips were unsafe. If they were unsafe, she was going to get quotes from electricians on how much it would cost to add outlets to their room. I wished her well and joked to Rob that my mother had a new project that was going to keep her busy for a while.

My mother did exactly what she said she would, she called the state fire marshal's office. They explained that she needed to talk to her county fire marshal's office. She talked to several more people in different offices, trying to establish who could help her. I don't know how it all came down, but somehow Claudia got the direction from someone to call the nursing home corporate offices. She tracked down the phone number for the head honchos at the corporate office and had a conversation with them. Completely unexpectedly, they agreed with Claudia and Ralph. When in America, does that EVER happen? The next thing I knew, within days, Claudia and Ralph had a brand new, fire-code compliant 4 plug electrical outlet right where they needed it in their room.

Amazing. Once again, I shake my head in disbelief and give them a deep bow of respect for their victory over the bureaucracy of life. Never underestimate the power of the little guy.

In other semi-related news, my folks wanted you see their room. They are proud of it and I am proud of them.