Dear Chamber of Commerce Members,

Final Article by David Hruza, I am ending my articles as the Chamber President with an article written by Stephen King.  Our perspective changes when we are lying in a ditch.


Article Written by Stephen King

A couple of years ago I found out what “you can’t take it with you” means. I found out while I was lying in a ditch at the side of a country road, covered with mud and blood and with the tibia of my right leg poking out the side of my jeans like a branch of a tree taken down in a thunderstorm. I had a MasterCard in my wallet, but when you’re lying in a ditch with broken glass in your hair, no one accepts MasterCard.

We all know that life is ephemeral, but on that particular day and in the months that followed, I got a painful but extremely valuable look at life’s simple backstage truths. We come in naked and broke. We may be dressed when we go out, but we’re just as broke. Warren Buffet? Going to go out broke. Bill Gates? Going out broke. Tom Hanks? Going out broke. Steve King? Broke. Not a crying dime.

All the money you earn, all the stocks you buy, all the mutual funds you trade—all of that is mostly smoke and mirrors. It’s still going to be a quarter-past getting late whether you tell the time on a Timex or a Rolex. No matter how large your bank account, no matter how many credit cards you have, sooner or later things will begin to go wrong with the only three things you have that you can really call your own: your body, your spirit and your mind.

So I want you to consider making your life one long gift to others. And why not? All you have is on loan, anyway. All that lasts is what you pass on. ...

[World need, especially in Africa and Asia] is not a pretty picture, but we have the power to help, the power to change. And why should we refuse? Because we’re going to take it with us? Please.

...Giving is a way of taking the focus off the money we make and putting it back where it belongs—on the lives we lead, the families we raise, the communities that nurture us.

A life of giving—not just money, but time and spirit—repays. It helps us remember that we may be going out broke, but right now we’re doing O.K. Right now we have the power to do great good for others and for ourselves.
So I ask you to begin giving, and to continue as you began. I think you’ll find in the end that you got far more than you ever had, and did more good than you ever dreamed.

Stephen King is in no way saying that it is hopeless so don’t try to achieve.  I think that his purpose to achieve became higher after his time spent in the ditch.

Ben Stein said it this way.

I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that
matters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it
another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as
Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin--or Martin Mull or Fred
Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman, or as good a
writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them. But I could
be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good
son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main
task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my
wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared
for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with
my father as he got sick, went into extremis, into a coma, and then
entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms.

I believe that we lead the Mini-Cassia Chamber of Commerce with ethics and integrity and have given the members value that has helped the area be a better place to do business.  It has been my pleasure to serve.  The leadership for the future is first rate.  The stage is set and the focus is in the right direction.

When the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great!!!!

The Mini-Cassia Chamber of Commerce works on the local level to bring the business & the farming community together to develop strong local networks, which can result in a business-to-business exchange. In most cases, local Chambers work with their local government, such as their mayor, their city council and local representatives to develop pro-business, farming, community initiatives & advocate working to assure economic vitality and quality of life within the region.

Let’s embrace the future with resolve to make a difference in the outcome by involving ourselves with the process.

I look forward to visiting with you, please feel free to email me ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or get in touch with me if there is anything that

Respectfully submitted

David Hruza