2 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 47, No. 2 From the PLSO Chair MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Scott Freshwaters, PLS Chair of the Board I t’s So Bad It’s Good—Or, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Now that I have piqued your interest, you are going to read true tales of courage, grit, perseverance along with some foolishness and stupidity, all while seeing the protective hand of Providence. Let’s start with what it means to be in a situation where it is so bad it’s good. I have the honor of surveying for many years with Roy Easter. Roy is a Vietnam War veteran who was wounded in a firefight. He had grit. We would be in some miserable weather or dangerous conditions and he would say, “Laddy Buck, it’s so bad it’s good.” At the time I never knew exactly what he meant, but I must admit I liked the sound of it! Here are some examples of weather conditions where Roy used that phrase. One winter day out at Deschutes Junction where we were finishing up a topographic survey for the Tumalo Road and Deschutes Market Highway overpass and interchange, the snow was extremely wet, and coming down sideways so fast that I had to clear the objective lens on the total station every other shot! To make matters worse, it was one of the numerous days that I had a severe (near migraine) headache. Roy knew about these frequent headaches and was understanding. However, if I could I would push through it. I don’t remember if we actually finished out the day or not. Another instance of bad/good was out near Horse Ridge where a private party had a small parcel that was approved for surface mining with a maximum yardage condition. The planning department was concerned that he had removed more material than his permit allowed. This was also in the winter on a day when it was very close to the freezing mark, but the precipitation again was falling almost sideways and was mostly rain. I was wearing one-half hour gloves while running the instrument. You know what I mean. So, after about 45 minutes when we finished the topo I could barely feel my fingers, plus they started to really, really hurt while we headed back to town. While I was thawing them out with the dash ducts, the pain was so intense I almost started to cry. Roy offered to take me to the emergency room. Fortunately, by the time we made it back to Bend the pain had mostly subsided and my fingers were a normal color. So, I am not saying I have much grit, perseverance, courage, and toughness, but I do know what “it’s so bad it’s good” means now. Also, there is something to be said about how challenges completed successfully can and do build virtuous character traits. Here is a quote from the Book of Romans in Chapter 5 verse 4: “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Another great and well known quote is this from Teddy Roosevelt, commonly called his “Man in the Arena” speech given in Paris, France. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor
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