"Let Me Tell You Three of Your Good Points"

I hope this finds you all in fine spirits. This is Butler Shiina. As Vice-President, much of my daily duty is spent nurturing those who come after. Today, let me write a little on that — on "raising people."

A butler's craft is not gained in a day. Bearing, speech, attentiveness, and above all the power to read the heart of the person before you. None of these will ever grow from reading a textbook alone. And so, for a person to grow, there must always be "someone who supports" them.

There is an incident I cannot forget. A certain new butler, at her first solo service, made mistake after mistake. She had quite lost her confidence. I could have taken her to task for each failure. But I thought that to do so would only make her shrink. So I said to her, "First, let me tell you three of your good points."

People are curious creatures: only once their good points are acknowledged can they honestly face their faults. Confront someone head-on with their flaws and they will close the door of their heart. But say, "You have such good qualities — and that is exactly why, if you mend this, you will be better still," and a person can look forward again. That newcomer later grew into one of the association's mainstays, and even now tells me, from time to time, "Without that one word, I would have quit."

There is a new form of butler that only a woman can create — this is my creed. Poised, and supple. People grow by neither strictness alone nor kindness alone. To measure the distance between the two is, I believe, the duty of one who nurtures.