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Bravo to dedicated public servants

Frustration with government is understandable. But sometimes, it blinds us to the good, dedicated public servants who, like us, go to work every day and try hard to do their best.

Probably more often than we know, they go above and beyond the call of duty.

For example, there is the story about the Columbus bride whose wedding was nearly ruined.

It seems her mother traveled from Newark, N.J., to attend the wedding. With her went her daughter’s wedding gown.

Before boarding a flight at the airport in Newark, the woman went through a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint. Upon arriving in Columbus, she realized she had left a bag containing her dress and her daughter’s gown behind.

Christopher Cepeda, the bride-to-be’s brother, went to a TSA website and filled out a lost-and-found form. The website noted that the response time in such cases was five days.

The wedding was set for the next day.

TSA employee Loletta Nathan-Gordon noticed Cepeda’s email. She found the missing bag.

Nathan-Gordon went out of her way to arrange for overnight shipping. On the big day, the bride walked down the aisle in the gown she had chosen.

Understand this: There are lots more just like Nathan-Gordon. They are custodians at city buildings, county election department personnel, clerks at state motor vehicle departments and people staffing the phones at the Social Security Administration. Some, by the way, are police officers and sheriff’s deputies.

Go ahead. Express your displeasure with “government.” Sometimes it is warranted. Just don’t forget people like Loletta Nathan-Gordon.

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