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<!--StartFragment--></p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">Shortly before Christmas an old friend called to let me know
that she had once again watched the Jimmy Stewart movie \"It\'s a Wonderful Life.\"
For many years, as I worked to build a publishing company, that movie had been a
touchstone.</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">&nbsp;</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">&nbsp;</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">I took over the reins of this magazine when my father died
suddenly - as had the father of George Bailey in the movie. And like George, I felt
the burden of being there for all the people who depended on me. At least that\'s
the way I thought it was. In the last 10 years I\'ve watched as the other magazines
in which I was involved in addition to CNR were sold and the people associated with
them had to ˚nd other work. And through it all I\'ve learned that</p>
<p>the people who I thought I was carrying were actually carrying
me.Over the past year the economic forces
that all of us in the construction industry have felt have caused painful layo˚s
at companies</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">deeply rooted in the St. Louis construction industry. The
beginning of 2010 sees us beginning to climb out of the worst drop in construction
since the Great Depression. All of us have struggled and many of us have seen good
friends hurt. But we\'ve also seen moments of grace; as friend reaches out to friend,
and the network of those of us who make our living in our industry ˚nd something
bigger than ourselves, creating opportunities where none seemed to exist.</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">&nbsp;</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">Our industry is not going to be the same one that we\'ve known
going forward. But this is as it always was. Of the ˚ve contractors in St. Louis\'
top ˚ve in 1969 when CNR was founded, only one is still in that elite. And the number
of great names in the industry that have gone by the wayside in the four decades
that this magazine has been around is large. As I think back on those companies,
it\'s not so much the projects they did or the position they held in the market.
What I remember is the people - the people who steered the direction of the companies,
made their livings in them, and</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">crossed paths with me in the process.</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">&nbsp;</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">At the end of \"It\'s a Wonderful Life,\" George Bailey
reads an inscription written in a book that his guardian angel Clarence has left
for him. The inscription reads: \"Dear George: Remember - No man is a failure
who has friends.\" Ours is an industry - more so than many of others - where
people make the di˚erence, where relationships are paramount. As we work to repair
the damage that\'s occurred over the past year, one of the most important things
we can do is to reach out to</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">those who have been most a˚ected by what has happened.</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">&nbsp;</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">St. Paul told us to \"bear one another\'s burdens\".
That doesn\'t mean coming up with solutions or ˚xing things. That\'s not within our
control. But picking up the phone to touch base on a regular basis with an out-of-work
friend, or taking one another away from the grind of business to focus on family
and</p>
<p class=\"MsoPlainText\">friendship and balance in life over a cup of co˚ee or a beer
is something that we can and should do for one another. Times are hard, but we\'re
among friends</p>
<p><!--EndFragment--> .</p>
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