Norman Maeshima and Georgia Maeshima

00:06 My name is Georgia. Maishima. I'm 51. Today's date is June 18th, 2015. We are in San Francisco and the conversation I'm having with is my husband.

00:21 My name is Norman my Sheena. I'm at age 56 and this is June 18th, 2015.

00:30 We are in San Francisco. And Georgia is my wife and best friend.

00:42 Tell me how you got into public service and what you do there.

00:47 Well, I started February 10th 1984 and I'm in information Technologies.

00:58 Yep, that's 31 years.

01:02 So long ago that the computers still filled up whole rooms like

01:10 And I'm mostly there because of three guys actually three men that taught me about service.

01:21 John F. Kennedy

01:24 Dr. F a miracle and my father is Sammy or Sam my Shima.

01:33 As a kid growing up in Garden Grove, California where

01:37 Farms and Orchards for turning into like sleepy bedroom suburbs, and I know it was during the time when America was reaching for the moon with like sheer guts and brains.

01:52 The first step of equality was being made with a civil rights.

01:58 Act and the bravery and sacrifice of the black community

02:04 Peace Corps

02:06 Who is reaching out to other countries and trying to help facilitate stuff? And and that's

02:16 The stage was being set before I could even understand what was going on.

02:22 I was pretty little.

02:24 And the main language at home with Japanese at the time cuz my mother came over from the old country.

02:33 But John F Kennedy in his inaugural address, of course everyone knows you know.

02:41 My fellow Americans ask not

02:46 What your country can do for you? Ask what you can do for your country. My friends in Boston will kill me, but

02:57 You know, it was a planting or replanting of a seed and idea.

03:05 Division of service

03:09 Hand

03:12 You know, I also had doctor f a miracle.

03:18 And yep eye doctor was Floyd.

03:23 A miracle doctor Miracle is my doctor he

03:29 Deliver me and I'll pick me up when I was broken and and you know.

03:36 Give me medicine when I need need it song.

03:45 And usually it was pretty bad because once a year around winter time, I would really get sick for 4 year. I mean a for a week and a bad high fever words. We'd have to get ice baths and stuff like that, but

04:02 One day I was sick and

04:07 I went to another doctor. I kind of asked my father.

04:11 Hey, how come so we can go to doctor miracle?

04:16 Explain to me the doctor milk.

04:20 He was the Seventh Day Adventist and they ass of their members to do service to the community or go on missions. So he closed his practice up.

04:35 And you know referred us to other places and other people.

04:43 Always messed up because he was kind of a giant of a man.

04:47 You know kind eyes and he was

04:53 Gentle

04:56 And always concerned about you know, how I was doing so.

05:02 And your father and my father?

05:06 Well

05:10 He was

05:13 He's a great father is a gardener.

05:17 And

05:19 He was also a migrant Farm worker early in the days. It was chicken sexor in the across the country going from Farm to farm to do his work. So

05:36 He was the one that explain to me. Mostly what service was because I had a lot of questions about it. I didn't understand why you would close a practice like that because

05:51 You know my mom just like any other mom the dog you need to be a doctor or dentist lawyer and you know, make money and stuff like that. So he closed his practice to go on a mission or do community service. So, you know, even though you explain it to me. I mean I asked questions from

06:16 Over and over again, you know, you know even even something simple like, you know, how kids ask their what iPad you know, he's sick all the time or or you know, less pay I don't get that.

06:34 So

06:37 I remember one trip. We are in the old Chevy white pickup truck.

06:43 And I came back from my vent and I started asking questions again about a service. So it was complicated enough to worry pulled over and we sat on the bench Street seat of the truck and

07:00 Explain to me about public service right police firefighters people in public works how they fix streets and and sidewalks and stuff like that and people delivering water and gas so

07:22 And then he touched on the part where there was public health agencies that you know, and he reminded me that I had gotten immunized had a public health agency in and I came back and remember that it wasn't so pretty in that they must not have been found it too. Well, I saw equipment that was sort of old and they are cracked porcelain treyzon and stuff like that instrument cabinets or repainted there lightning to clean but every painted and it's all panes of glass and stuff like that kind of phone with cracked but because of that

08:10 How much do the doctors in the nurses get paid at a place like that? I didn't know it was a public agency, but you soon will probably not as much as the other doctor said that we visit so much mint private practice doctors, which I didn't know the term.

08:29 But

08:32 Must have been rough 30 minutes and

08:36 And I was sort of the side a little bit and goes look Norman.

08:44 I would be proud to be a public servant.

08:47 It is a good job.

08:50 I would be very happy to serve my fellow human, right?

08:56 And that's that's pretty uncharacteristic of all my migrant Farm worker or a gardener and I have to

09:09 I've kind of point out that

09:13 Even though my father only had a high school diploma and just barely

09:22 He read all the time.

09:25 Sometimes in both languages Japanese and

09:31 English we have for encyclopedias three of them were old, you know, an old Britannica said, I know Collier said Americana said if anyone remembers that so I only knew one was world looking at was really for us but a great expense. We also had great books series kind of a tannish thing that had all the Western philosophers and mathematicians and stuff like that and along with that was a little red set that would

10:07 And it's almost like a guidebook lesson book for you would get selections of things to read on a certain topic and he would go through those and I've got to remember he would ask some questions once in awhile. I don't quite understand what you know Aristotle saying you're here, so and I've gone through some of that so we can talk about it. So

10:31 He was here is quite different for for any Gardener that I knew.

10:38 But

10:40 The most striking thing about that statement was

10:45 He was a Japanese-American.

10:48 Treated as an enemy.

10:53 His father got thrown into a account along with his community and yet

11:00 He wanted to serve.

11:04 People in this country

11:07 So

11:10 That was a very very powerful message.

11:14 You know the Sur?

11:18 But did I understand it? Then little kid Chevy trucks and I heard the words.

11:33 Gosh, darn, you know the understanding what kind of come later way later, you know at the City of Long Beach when two of my

11:44 You know it Technologies information career through several shops and you want to the time company called Hughes aircraft now bowling in the Aerospace industry and got lucky enough to get a job over to City you working for public safety unit which service fire and police.

12:11 So

12:13 I was going to stay there only about 2 to 5 years in and hot because that was what you know freshman was did they hop to get the next Rays or the hot to get the next position?

12:25 Him after 5 years and I'll call my friends back up at the Aerospace. You got any jobs over there a cure for everything that the government pulling their funding and everything. We had stays here. So

12:45 That was

12:48 Timing was Pure Luck.

12:51 Absolutely pure luck. Because

12:54 You know.

12:57 Little by little

13:00 My little cup got filled. So then I have to kind of explain what the little cup is.

13:07 You going to work for this little Cup half-filled, right?

13:12 And you know, if you help someone to get to fill a little cup, right if you help a lot of people he could fill the cup a lot right? And do you want to have a full cup when you go home, you know?

13:30 There are some days and you know.

13:35 Look up comes back home empty. It was a bad days, but you really do want.

13:43 To fill your cup

13:45 And as the years progressed in as the project came came through and we

13:51 John help

13:54 Helping

13:56 People at City

13:59 Deliver services or safety or the gas or you know?

14:07 Recovered their pets and is there any of the stuff that was there the cup gottesfeld and I noticed that you know, it started like once a month.

14:17 Nice nice Full Cup. Come on.

14:20 Then it was like

14:22 Every couple of weeks

14:25 And then make it became weekly.

14:28 And then, you know a couple times a week and sometimes a lot more.

14:33 So

14:36 Is great and

14:40 The everyday kind of things happened when I was in kind of a team called desktop.

14:48 And what we would do is kind of go out hell yeah Hardware or software the PCS broken or unit won't turn on or the software doesn't work. And you know, I can't do this. How do you do this? And we would help and that them and my cup was being filled like a lot everyday it was it was great. But something that I got lucky with is I could fix the thing the computer or whatever for the printer, but still talk to the person try to figure out

15:26 What day did how they helped? You know, how what are you doing for your customers?

15:35 Set aside for people who need help with housing or is it the business people that's trying to get their business license and and these are the people are trying to build an addition on their house was trying to make sure that it's safe and stuff like that. So

15:55 And I I got to listen to

15:58 Almost everyone in the city and the City of Long Beach has a full-service City. I mean, we do pretty much everything except for deliver electricity. I mean, we have a harbor we have an airport gas. We do trash we told police toes amazing the breast and skill and dedication of the people or are just amazing, you know that a lot of good people there. We got a bad apples, but

16:37 There are a lot of good hard-working people at the city and are trying to deliver stuff and trying to serve the community and the businesses and visitors.

16:49 Some

16:51 That's how I got in and actually mostly that's why I stayed because I mean

16:59 You my friends every once in awhile, you know I go out and see how come you're not replying to Microsoft. You're not applying to Oracle. Not all great companies and stuff like that.

17:11 But my cup is being silhouette the same as the last 30 years.

17:18 Well

17:22 It's

17:24 It's meant that I was able to uncover a diamond. I mean

17:30 My dad gave me this unformed kind of piece of coal. It was pure and it would clean everything like that, but it needed pressure.

17:40 And it needed time in order for it to crystallize.

17:47 Anna and it's amazing. Sometimes it crystallizes like in a second. It's like thing cuz some people call it starts hoodie, which is a realization, you know, you'll see something happen like oh my God, it's the system wasn't here.

18:06 You know that deal or that building wouldn't have been built or if it wasn't here would have been built in a million years ago cuz computer is always accelerated stuff. So

18:21 And I meant that I was able.

18:26 Serve

18:28 And

18:31 I finally truly understood.

18:34 What my father was trying to tell me.

18:38 I know it's a little boy sitting on a bench seat.

18:43 And a white Chevy pickup on the side of the road.

18:49 We have two kids that are about the same age, but would you tell them?

18:58 It is a good good job.

19:02 Handa

19:04 In spite of the bureaucracy and you know

19:10 He ever tightening regulations, you know, it's it's worth it.

19:17 And I go out there do your best take a swing?

19:22 Try to make the world a little bit better.

19:27 Is there anything else you'd like to tell me or our kids are anyone who's listening?

19:40 That's about that's about it. So.

19:45 Diamond is air signs.

19:48 And you got to earn it.

19:52 And I need to ignore all that all the noise and just

20:00 Figure out what you love and what kills your cup.

20:11 Norman one of the best memories that you have working there. Is there anything special that you comes to mind?

20:22 Well, mostly it's it's

20:31 I used to run a email system while I had to take care of an email system and

20:38 I would have to see some of the messages and how important they were one across.

20:47 They were millions of dollars of transactions that were necessary to either help people or build buildings or protect people and it's not that I saw them all but occasionally, they would be kind of like stuck in a

21:07 Funny thing call spam filter. So once in a while, you know a good message we get stuck and I would have to unstick it and send it on its way and stuff like that.

21:17 No course I would have to read the content in order to make sure that it was nothing bad in it. So.

21:25 Because I had talked to all the staff over the years about what they did why they did it and then what part of the city they were trying to make better, you know.

21:40 It was like this earthquake or this shift in my

21:48 Am I psychic you know that?

21:51 Haha business, I mean it's like a food thing where you know, if you have a beautiful dinner Nico, you know, you get that amazing thing or like a cold beer on a really really hot day just go out but the kind of thing that happened to me when you realize stuff that you're doing mean something to you get something a little bit more complex 3%

22:26 Right and

22:30 The ground from that you're standing on just shifts and you just sit there and you go.

22:38 Wow.

22:40 Ashley making a difference

22:43 So

22:45 Taking care of that email system oddly enough gave me one of one of the best memories I had how important my job or isn't how I had to keep trying.

23:05 If there was anything that you could share with your children about the work that you've done in public service, what would that be?

23:13 That you have to ignore the bureaucracy and bureaucracy is not bad. It's it's because of past sins, you know is layers and layers of things that that we have to do in order to even buy things now, it's it's like crazy and sometimes you just go you pour out a little bit your cup because there's so many rules and regulations to keep people honest. It's not that they're trying to treat you like a crook, you know what to to do your work, but there are a lot of regulations.

23:53 They just have to remember that day. They need to work through stuff or there be in public service or any place else. You just have to work through it persevere had patients have faith.

24:11 That they're doing good.

24:19 31 years is a long time and he regrets.

24:24 No, not at all. Like I said.

24:27 Lucky that the Aerospace industry was kind of

24:33 Attracting at the time and my friends were going no. No, no don't you know, I like that gave me time to actually go ahead and put pressure on that that piece of carbon to to turn it into a diamond then and realize how blessed I was to be able to serve.

25:00 Will you miss it?

25:03 Yes, I will miss it a lot.

25:10 But there might be other things that I might do.

25:13 More service work, but the only thing that in my business is I'm pretty far back. I'm I'm in the back room and not quite The Wizard of Oz, you know doing the levers and stuff like that, but I'm delivering stuff. I'm not actually in the front delivering services to the customer whether it be a constituent or a business or a visitor, so

25:45 The thing I missed about my career in desktop is that I was able to visit the customers pretty much directly at one of my mentors cuz you know, I don't see you no more, you know, if you stood salt and problem solving problems, you know, currently I my guys run the

26:14 Telephones in the Network's of the City of Long Beach. I mean 6,000 connections 6000 numbers huge huge responsibility, but we're pretty far in the back and I have to remind them that they are actually doing good, you know on the street level and that sort of distance.

26:43 Is something that I'd like to kind of close up and try to get Ford closer to the customer and

26:53 That's the kind of work. I like to do next.

26:58 You mentioned it the cut the analogy of a cup. Where did that come from? It's a beautiful analogy. How did you come about thinking of it like that?

27:10 I don't know. It was just an indicator.

27:17 Of what?

27:20 Do your energy level you always go in half with a half.

27:28 Cuz you want some room when you got to leave some at home. At least some energy at home cuz that's important. So you going to halfway, right?

27:40 Yeah, when I have a bad morning the cup goes empty like right away. But that means you also have a little bit of Tolerance and room for that for the the next thing so

27:55 That cup

27:58 There's a pretty simple way of explaining stuff.

28:03 The people buy

28:06 Rough day of cups Cups can empty but you know, I got some you know when we talk so I have some energy so hopefully I can to all your cup a little bit and it's kind of how it came about.

28:25 So sort of pretty organic.

28:29 Sounds like you learned a lot from your dad and from the doctor. Yes and John F Kennedy, so he planted the seed and I created that environment that

28:42 That you know service is good. You know, I think it was an executive action for the Peace Corps. I don't know that for sure.

28:52 At the doctor Miracles decision to do community service.

29:02 And my dad's conviction.

29:06 That service.

29:08 To your fellow human is a good thing to do.

29:17 In Georgia, how with your husband getting ready to retire? What are you going to do? What are you both planning with the future?

29:30 I still have four more years with the city, but we have younger kids and so

29:40 Latin word for undertaking a large project that he's going to be involved with the remodeling our house and then his he's looking to serve continue surfing through an NGO with somewhere. So I don't think he'll have much time to wallow in retirement and we have our plates quite full.

30:07 Georgia are you proud of what your husband is accomplished in his 31 years?

30:12 Yes, and that I was one of those poor souls that he helped out beside him one of his I was sore and one of his customers at the city.

30:24 Can you share a little bit but that?

30:27 We met in my first position. I was working on a flyer for a conference in management conference that the city has and he he was in desktop at that time and was the expert on a publishing software Clark Harvick graphics and we became friends and buy him helping me design the name badges designed the program cover design other artwork for this conference to make it a little more spiffy and that friendship developed into something more over the intervening years, but through that process we try to keep our professional life in our personal life separate that he would continue helping me with computers and in his current capacities networking telephones.

31:28 Georgia there was anything that you could tell your husband.

31:32 Right now

31:35 What would you tell him if there was anything you could share with him?

31:44 I'm extremely glad that we met each other spend.

31:51 25 years, I think if not more I think he's a very smart man a very caring individual.

32:04 And

32:06 Baby has more great things and lying in his future waiting for him to do.

32:16 And you Norman if there was anything you could tell tell your wife. Let's say this was the last time you saw each other. What would you want to tell her?

32:27 Well, I love her. She's my best friend.

32:31 And she already knows this but

32:34 We're sorta like two peas in a pod. I'm much less organized and she is and if you're not organized in the century or even any place else, it's it could be disastrous. So

32:58 She keeps a lot of things straight so that I can think about kind of complicated problems and creative things.

33:12 It does take a lot of energy to do the work and she knows once in awhile that that sucks a lot of energy to try.

33:24 To serve consistently and she can always fill in the gaps and and happenings already so that all I have to do is you know o had to do this bill or we have to arrange this ticket here. You need to build this and you need to do this this this Christmas so

33:46 The organization

33:48 Stuff that I'm not really good at she's great at and it's just like a cooking which is interesting. She begs for 8.

34:02 Me I can't even measure butter right through a crazy. I have ruined so many things even Nexus but on the other hand I can cook an entree. I think I remember one time when they were like three things in the refrigerator and I whip something up.

34:25 And I know it would lovingly but Georgia was a little exasperated going. How did you do that? We only had three things in the refrigerator. But you know, there was a protein, you know, there's a car bow and there was a vegetable so I can do this.

34:45 But I have a very difficult time begging.

34:54 Undergoing a remodel. I know I want a patio door here. I don't know what the patio door looks like. I have no idea what the patio doors it looks like that's you you are so so and you organize the plans and make sure that all the little permitting stuff is in in line and Connecticut to the architect for as I

35:19 I'm looking at the stuff for my artistic point of you have a little interesting thing about time and how I lose it a little bit when I'm in my creative state, so I'm kind of gets throwing up out. So without both of us job when you get done.

35:46 Thank you. Thank you. It was a story worth telling us a trip worth taking.

35:54 Itrip that will continue