On Importance

I saw an old friend yesterday.
A high school classmate.
We had a lot to catch up on.

He’s doing very well, he says.
He has a very responsible position.
He makes major decisions
all the time.
People depend on his judgment.
They call and ask his opinion:
the plant manager,
Vice President of Marketing.
the Company President,
He hears from them regularly.
Yes, it is clear he has a very important job.

I didn’t tell him this,
but all the while he was talking,
I was thinking:
“If you have to tell people how important you are,
you’re not.”

 

From my book Some Poems About Life