I have been trying to figure out what I'm good at and what I have to contribute to the world beyond these four basement walls. As always, I seek inspiration within the internet and stumble upon a bit of advice:

"The three words that will stand out on your application and open the door for you to shine are 'Professional Problem Solver.'" B.T. Bulmer

I repeat these three big words: Professional Problem Solver. Quite a mouthful, but what exactly do they imply?

Researching further, I discover http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/problem_solving.html and find myself at the edge of my seat. It is as if their Five Why procedure was lifted from my brain.

"The Five-Why Process was introduced at Toyota to find solutions to manufacturing problems, but this approach can be applied to any other area as well. Ask Why is this problem happening to discover its underlying problem; then ask Why again to go deeper by another level until you reach the root cause. Asking why repeatedly, possibly more than five times, directs the focus toward real causes so problems can be solved permanently."

I could have introduced this procedure to Toyota and made a fortune, for I am the Why-Guru. Growing up, WHY pretty much ruled my day, to the point where a sensitivity- trained friend Paula erupted, "Good God Barb! Who knows and who cares? Let it go!"

I liked getting to the root of things. It was my nature, even when it drove others nuts.. or made my life difficult.

Once I asked my Dad- an engineer at Honeywell- why my conscientious objecting friends were marching outside his company with placards. He got a pained look on his face and told me the Defense department had contracted Honeywell to create fragmentation bombs. I asked why are you working for such a company to which he said the government was determined to make them and if Honeywell didn't make them someone else would.

I didn't buy it, so I asked why are they protesting at your plant and he said his plant housed the type of engineers with the expertise to design the bombs to which I said, why are you being so evasive, are you involved to which he answered yes, I am designing them.

After a long pause in which I attempted to digest this information, I asked why are you doing that if you are a Christian and don't believe in killing and he said, slowly and sadly, well, if it's me, I at least I can make certain they explode as intended. He had tears in his eyes. Quietly I asked, why don't you quit? And he said, I have two kids in college and a mortgage.

It was a shock to recognize that I was the problem My friends should have been carrying placards up and down my street. I was intimately connected to shattering bombs that maimed and killed innocent women and children in a country called Vietnam.

I had gotten to the root of the problem and it was me.

When I graduated from college, I got my first professional job as an assistant editor at a local religious publishing house. My department was responsible for the new Lutheran hymnal and I was puffed up with pride.Then came the fateful day an edited manuscript plopped upon my desk. The powers that be had taken on an old favorite, beloved by The People. And I was required to sign off on the contemporary version.

Why would they want me to sign off on such an editorial attrocity, I wondered. I went into the Managing Editor's office. Why do you want me to approve this- there must be some mistake, to which he said, there is no mistake. It is your job to sign off on it. I stood in horror, staring at words I considered crap.

Why would you approve this, I stuttered, in shock. It's not even poetic. He became huffy. "Might I remind you that The Committee is wiser than a recent college graduate," he spat. "They are highly respected church musicians. You are in training."

Why do they even think they have the right to debase these beautiful words? I asked. LOOK, SEE, A ROSE IS GROWING??? You've got to be kidding! Why are church musicians allowed to meddle with poetic perfection? He promptly fired me.

I had gotten to the root of that problem and once again, it turned out to be me... for a time, anyway.

Today's hymnal contains the original poetic phrasing I meant to protect. I guess Theodore Baker, translator of this 15th century German hymn is no longer turning in his grave. For that, and for the restoration of this lovely verse, I am grateful.

Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming

from tender stem hath sprung!

Of Jesse's lineage coming,

as those of old have sung.

It came, a floweret bright,

amid the cold of winter,

when half spent was the night.