BRATTLEBORO — I'm thinking of Erich Kruger today, as I often do when enjoying the various beautiful touches he built into my home: the simple patio he created behind my office that gives me so much pleasure as I sit there by the brook; the bathtub he installed in a remodeled bathroom; the stepladder to the loft with handles he added so that I, an older woman, could climb the ladder safely.
As he worked on my house, Erich was in the midst of planning what would become ReNew. I admired the new logo he showed me, and listened with rapt attention to his ideas for ReNew. I marveled even more as I witnessed his ideas actually flow from the invisible realm of his spirit to manifest concretely in the world.
Suddenly, I saw a sign with the logo he had shown me months earlier, on a building stocked with actual doors, knobs, windows, cabinets, and other useful items that would have gone into a landfill but now sit poised for a second life in other homes.
When I read that ReNew's board of directors had dismissed Erich without warning, I was, like so many who know the huge effort and passion he poured into ReNew, shocked.
The board of directors' press release acknowledged his great contribution. But there was a disconnect between the board's words and actions. This sudden action, without previous discussion with Erich, did not grow out of the respect that is his due. The words from the board were without life, like plants cut from their living roots.
If members of the ReNew board had found a way to demonstrate, through their actions, the respect they professed to have for Erich, their words would have been filled with life, rooted in truth. They wrote of financial constraints that, they explained, made it essential to dismiss him.
But even with such constraints, it must have been possible to take action by discussing the problems with him beforehand and together brainstorming a solution. Perhaps they would together have arrived at the same solution, but in a way that would have truly acknowledged Erich's visionary contribution.
I am saddened by the way ReNew treated Erich. I am also moved by the bigness of heart and character with which he responded, keeping his eyes on the larger prize: the flourishing of the organization in a community that greatly needs it.