A bright yellow highway department truck creeps along a quiet, city street. A worker slowly climbs out of the truck and laboriously digs a large hole between the sidewalk and the street. A few minutes later, a second worker gets out, fills in the hole, and tamps down the dirt. A few yards down the street they repeat the same procedure, then again and again.

An elderly lady has been watching. She walks over and asks, "What in the world are you doing?"

One of the workers says, "We're on an urban beautification project."

"Beautification?" she asks with dismay. "What's so beautiful about all those filled-in holes?"

"Well, you see," says the worker, "the man who plants the trees is out sick today."

In a ridiculous way that little story reminds us that different people play different roles.…