Smoking shredder

Today has been the day I have looked forward to for months. My work on the search committee leading the process of electing the person to be the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina is done.

Since we're reimbursed for all expenses (the diocese wanting to know as precisely as possible what it costs to elect a bishop) I counted all the paper in my notebook and files having to do with the search. After the count (which resulted in four piles -- single-sided B&W, double-sided B&W, single-sided color, double-sided color) came multiple sessions with the shredder. It took several hours to crosscut what amounted to two reams of paper, but the job is done. The shredder may never be the same.

Just as one sheet began its journey through the machine's jaws as it were, I spotted something hand written along the bottom margin of the page and managed to tear it off in time, saving it from becoming confetti. It's a quote by one of the candidates which I jotted during a group interview in Charlotte.

"A person who thinks he's a leader but has no followers is only taking a walk."

It got a round of laughter when he said it and, you notice, I did write it down. It's probably a good thing for a candidate for bishop to say and to believe and to expect.

From my perspective, however, the idea of a simple walk is profoundly appealing.