From The Director


Tim Rhoades Bio

 

 The Sugar Principle

I have been thinking a lot lately about my uncle Casey, Casey Rhoades. Oh, he's been dead now for 20 – some years, but his image, smile and song are very fresh in my mind. Casey was one of 15 children born in the middle of the Great Depression. There were eight boys and seven girls. Casey was one of the oldest. Given the economic times he was forced to go to work for his father at an early age and did not finish grammar school. One of his younger brothers Omer, my dad, went to work after 5th grade. Casey and my Dad were close. They moved out from Missouri and started a plastering company in the San Joaquin Valley after the WWII. My family eventually moved to the Central Coast of CA about 100 miles from Tulare, CA where Casey and his family lived.

In my early years, most of my encounters with Casey came from the three or four times a year when our families would get together for the day – usually on a Sunday. Sunday, because my dad worked six days a week. We would skip church and drive to Tulare(,) CA where my uncle Casey lived or Casey and his family would drive to where we lived Morro Bay, CA. I don't think I have ever met a man with kinder eyes. I was only cognizant of this in a childlike way, but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was always safe around Casey, and he would be kind to me - always. What a gift that is to a child. His eyes were deep, and the dark sun(-)dried skin that surrounded them created a setting for a message of kindness. I wish I could show you those eyes; they spoke volumes.

Casey was always kind in word and deed – but he was not wimp or push over. He stood about 5' 10'' weighing about 210 lbs -- zero fat, arms like tree trunks and hands with the strength of a 6" vice. Such incredible power; but only used for good or good work. I did not understand the impact or the meaning of being around such a man. I just knew I liked my uncle, I wanted to be around him, and I deeply admired his inner and outer strength.

As I grew older, I became an apprentice plasterer at the age of 15. Every once in awhile, my dads' company, Rhoades Plastering, would joint venture with my uncles' company, Rhoades Plastering in the Valley or on the Central Coast (they just called it working together). It is in these special windows of time that I became aware of the Sugar Principle - although it had no name or formal construct.

I can see it clearly as though it was yesterday: all of the times I had the good fortune to climb up on the scaffolding with Uncle Casey. Those times and images are burned in my long term memory. They are times I cherish, although at the time I had no idea what a gift it was to work with such a man. Here is the first thing that is so vivid to me and the first step in the Sugar Principle: Casey and my Dad always sang - mostly hymns, but sing they did. They were up on the scaffolding, efficiently and with great physical effort for hours on end, day after day creating rooms where children would play, families would gather, and life would be lived - singing while they worked. How bizarre - out of place in our culture today–an oddity to be sure. When is the last time you heard a construction worker singing relentlessly on a job site or a colleague singing in the office? Even more foreign to our current culture, two singing together? We have efficiently, without really noticing, removed such behaviors from our work place. Why?

The Sugar Principal starts with a song in your heart. If you don't have one, why not?

What does it mean to have a song in your heart?
What is at the core of an individual who consistently has a song in their heart?
Where is his/her satisfaction level with their life, their work, their future?
What the lesson these two gentle giants were teaching me by living their lives in such a manner?

Casey's life was so simple. He worked, he came home to his wife every day without fail, loved his kids, got up, and did it again, and again, and again. But every day, he had a song in his heart, and one that was so big, he sang it out loud all day long. How about you and I? Do we have a song in our hearts so stirring we have to sing it out loud every day?

I was walking in the rain with my grandson Caden over Christmas I asked Caden if he knew any Christmas songs. He said, yes - Jingle Bells. As you may have guessed, he only knew the chorus. So, we sang for six city blocks, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh, HEY! What a treat and a blessing to know my grandson has a song in his heart.

May 2010 be a year where we all have a song in our heart that moves us to the point we want to sing it out loud.

I realized I did not explain what the Sugar Principal is. Look for more information to come about the Sugar Principal...