The Faces of Mad

James L. Davis

Mad faces come in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors and I have experienced most of them.

To appreciate the facial contortions that a person experiences when they become truly angry requires careful observation and nerves of steel, because when a person’s face devolves from Happy Face to Mad Face, you never know what exactly will happen. If people watching were a sport then mad people watching would be an extreme sport.

I first considered the many expressions of the Mad Face when my daughter informed me that on Mad Face scale my mad face was far more frightening than my wife’s. I knew that when our children tap danced on our last available nerve and our Happy Face faded into a Mad Face they suddenly began to understand that their lives were in danger, but I did not realize that our children had actually made a Mad Face Severity Scale.
“Well, what does Mom’s face look like when she gets angry?”

“She has this vein,” my daughter replied.

“Vein? What kind of vein?”

“Well, veins, actually. But mostly just one vein, in her forehead. It looks a little like Harry Potter’s scar.”
“And the vein pops out when Mom is mad?”

“Oh yeah. Way out.”

“And does it do anything else?”

“It pulses.”

I had never really noticed this vein pulsing phenomenon in my wife before, but probably because I had the good sense to try and not make her angry very often, and when I did I was smart enough to leave the area.
“What happens after the vein in her forehead begins to pulse?”

My daughter shrugged. “She yells and then she goes ‘ewww’ really loud and says ‘I’ve had enough’ and stomps out of the room…usually.”

“But my Mad Face is worse than that?”

“Your Mad Face is the worst.”

“And what is my Mad Face?”

“Your jaw clenches.”

“That’s it, my jaw clenches?”

“Pretty much. We know when your jaw clenches that things aren’t good. That, and your eyes.”
“What about my eyes?”

“Well, you know how in the movies whenever there is a demon or something they have these red, glowing eyes?”

“Yes.”

“Well those are your eyes, pretty much. Only a little worse.”

My daughter left then, leaving me to reflect on the faces of madness, and I realized the faces that had been described weren’t all that frightening, not really. My kids hadn’t seen truly frightening Mad Faces, but I had. That is usually because I had been the one to cause them.

I once had a boss that I assumed was always sunburned because whenever he called me into the office his face was red. I also assumed that he had a problem expressing himself without little spittle flying out of his mouth. But in this I was wrong, because after time I observed him talking to many of my coworkers and learned that he was not always red in the face and that he did not shower anyone else when speaking. It was then that I realized that my boss had a Mad Face and he wore it whenever he spoke to me.

His Mad Face was only truly frightening because he held the power to fire me if he so wished and by the look on his face he always wished.

But the truly frightening Mad Face, the Mad Face to make our Mad Faces look like sad caricatures of a Mad Face, was the Mad Face of my Mom. When my Mom became angry she utilized every tool at her disposal: face, eyes, voice, hair. Usually it started with the face, with a slight downturn in my Mom’s lips, followed closely by a narrowing of the eyes and her voice then became deep and echoing as she announced in no uncertain terms that “you are making me angry.” This should have been warning enough for me, but like my own children, I had to stay and watch the show as my Mom became this strange creature intent on killing me.
After her announcement that anger was rapidly approaching she would usually give us kids the battle cry. The battle cry was long and drawn out and involved a high pitched “yee!” repeated at least four dozen times at the top of her voice. While she screamed in such a fashion a hot wind always seemed to swoop in and my Mom’s dark hair would stand straight up and wave in the breeze. This happened even indoors.

At this point my siblings and I were certain that our deaths were imminent and they would be slow and painful deaths.

But we couldn’t help but watch as my Mom’s face turned to a Mad Face. It was like watching a sporting event…an extreme one.

Is Giving Good for Business

James L. Davis

For a small business, is giving a good idea? When it comes to stretching already small budgets, many rural business owners open their wallets to donate to one cause after another and with a limited number of businesses in the community, the demands for donations often far outweigh the ability to give. Yet many businesses give until it hurts.

In a rural setting most do so out of a sense of community. Those asking for a donation are friends and neighbors and business owners donate because they want to help, but donations also serve another function. By helping out in the community business owners hope that the community will in turn support their business.
But behind every banner hanging at the high school by a business supporting the local team, or the program with a list of sponsors neatly printed on the back, there is an often unanswered question by business owners: Does my donation help my business?

According to a 2006 study the answer is yes, doing good is good for your business. The study by Christine Petrovits and Baruch Lev, of the New York University Stern School of Business, and Suresh Radhakrishnan of the University of Texas, entitled “Is Doing Good Good for You? Yes, Charitable Contributions Enhance Revenue Growth,” every dollar spent by business on charitable giving will result in a $6 return in sales.
“Corporate philanthropy can increase name recognition and goodwill among consumers, ultimately building demand for a firm’s products. Firms that produce goods and services purchased by individual consumers are more likely to enhance revenue from having a reputation as a good corporate citizen than firms that produce goods and services for industrial or governmental use,” the authors said in their study.

Whether that statement is more or less true in a rural setting is unknown, but as the line of charitable causes continues to grow, business owners find the question of “will the donation help my business grow” more and more pressing.

“Does donating create local loyalty? Do local people even care?” One business owner, who wished to remain anonymous, asked about charitable contributions.

In the study by Petrovits, Lev and Radhakrishnan, it found that in 2005 corporations donated $14 billion to charitable causes and helped generate significant income for their businesses.

But for local small businesses, an operating budget usually does not include a line item for charitable donations, and when donations are requested many find themselves wondering what they should do. Some businesses have answered the question by simply initiating a policy that says no to any request for donations, while others have established specific guidelines for charitable requests. Most simply make a decision as requests come in, which leads many to wonder if they should be donating to every cause and what constitutes a good cause.

“Should donations only be given to community or major medical needs or should we donate to everyone’s fishing or dance trip? Is recreation truly a reason to donate? Not to me, and especially not for an adult who should earn their own way,” said a local business owner.

If and to whom a business should donate is a personal decision for the owner, but a policy regarding charitable donations would be a benefit for every business, and would let those who are seeking donations understand the philosophy of the company about donations. Many of the cities in the county have developed a list of organizations that it will donate to each year and if you aren’t on that list, then your request for a donation is denied. The policies came as a way to manage limited funds and still be able to help with charitable causes.
When considering charitable donation requests a business should look at the request the same way as an individual would. Does the business want to be associated with the charity? Is the cause just and something they believe in? If your business believes in the cause, then just like an individual, get involved, help make the cause succeed in any way that you can.

Without the support of small businesses in Emery and Carbon counties, many worthwhile endeavors would struggle, but because of local businesses, countless people and causes have been overwhelmed with support. We live in a wonderful, rural area where we survive off of each other. As a community we should honor requests to support local business as local businesses honor our request to donate to individual causes.
Donating to a worthy cause not only helps those in need, it helps build a sense of community and for businesses it can help increase customer loyalty.

In the end, doing good really is good for you.