We all want to be recognized, appreciated, made to feel important. We all want to be somebody. A banker was visiting a customer's farm. He nodded to a figure in the farmyard. "I suppose that's the hired man," he said. The farmer replied, "Naw, that's the first vice president in charge of cows."

All of us what to be recognized.  All of us want to believe we are important. Alex Haley, the author of ROOTS served in the Coast Guard during World War II. Because of his race, Haley's jobs were limited to the kitchen. One job was serving coffee to the captain, who usually was so busy reading magazines that he ignored the person serving him.

But one day the captain observed, as he lifted his cup, "There's a good article here by an Alex Haley. Same name as you."

The server replied, "I am the Alex…