The Art of the Possible – Made in the USA I am extremely grateful to the employees, leadership, and owners of Midwest Gasket Corporation in Milroy, Indiana, because they were able – and willing -- to help me with a small order while simultaneously renewing my faith in United States Manufacturing’s ability to get things done – without outsourcing to other countries. It’s no secret that the United States of America’s capacity to manufacture is nothing like it was during and immediately after World War II, but what of our capability to manufacture? All we hear these days is that everything we used to do is now done in other countries … but, my recent interaction with the folks at Midwest Gasket renewed my faith that anything that can be made, can be made in America. During my time in the US Military I grew to cherish the phrase we routinely used which was "the art of the possible". The phrase refers to a person or organizations willingness to try to get something done as opposed to simply saying, “No, we can’t do that”. More often than not, and in fact I would argue MOST of the time, the words “no, we can’t do that” really mean, “no, we are unwilling do that. “No, we can’t” almost always means that “no, we are unwilling to try”. “No” is science (at least to me), because “no” is binary, that is, yes/ no, on/off, 1s/0s; “no” is completely objective and can easily be measured. But, “we’ll try” is completely subjective, so it’s much more of an art. “We’ll try” is MUCH more work/difficult than simply saying “no, we can’t”, so, at least in my experience, when posed with a problem/challenge most people and organizations revert to “no”, because it is the path of least resistance, it's easy. The art of the possible equals an individuals or organizations willingness to find a way to accomplish the mission. While working on this gasket project I emailed seven different gasket company’s that were at least based in the United States; of the seven, Midwest Gasket was the ONLY company willing to respond to my email, much less say they’d try to make it happen. Actually, Midwest Gasket’s reply to me was: “If you can send me the exact dimensions we can make one of these for you. We need the I.D. of the gasket along with the width of the groove the gasket drops in and the thickness. If you can provide this we will manufacturer this for you.” Having a willingness to try, as in "let me give it a shot" is the mark of a person and or organization who/that bring real progress to the world. Marketing something on the shelf maintains, but a willingness to innovate – that is, try something we’ve not done before – represents progress. Saying, “I’ll try” means EVERYTHING; a willingness to find a way to accomplish the mission represents the art of the possible. Whether you are an employee, a leader, or an owner of Midwest Gasket Corporation you have reason to be very proud, because you represent progress in America … you represent our ability to bring manufacturing back to the United States of America. Thank you all for doing what you do; thank you all for practicing the art of the possible as opposed to taking the easy path of “no”. Sincerely, Joe Czarnik Colonel, US Army (Ret.) Menasha, WI