John Meyers completed 13,000 hours over the course of 18 years, and counting.
Writer and journalist Malcolm Gladwell argued in his book “Outliers” that mastery is not born, but rather learned and practiced. Gladwell claimed it takes about 10,000 hours of guided practice to become masterful.
But John Meyers would not tell you he set out on a course for mastery. Meyers said he put in those 13,000 hours on the senior volunteer patrol (SVP) simply because he wanted to join something bigger than himself when he entered retirement.
After the prompting of his son in 2007, he joined the SVP that operates out of the Coronado Police Department to enrich his retirement and perhaps find some community.
“My son felt that [with me] being a workaholic, I needed something else to do,” Meyers said. “He saw the ad in the paper and said, ‘Let’s go down to the police station, dad, and see about this senior volunteer thing.’”
And since then, he’s stayed with the program, now one of their trainers and leaders. He typically works Saturdays, but on any given week he could be working a handful of days. From driving around and helping with traffic control to doing vacation house checks, Meyers said the senior volunteer patrol aims to support the police force.
“You really feel like you’re making a difference,” Meyers said. “There’s nothing better when you go out and you’re riding around and you see kids. We had two little kids saluting to us yesterday, and we’ll stop and give them police stickers and stuff. The smiles on their faces, it just really warms your heart to see kids respond that way to police and the authorities.”
Meyers is originally from Delaware. His career was in chemistry; he started out as a chemist and then worked his way to becoming an international quality manager and then the technical and operations board member for a company.
He said what he learned in his career applied to his retirement volunteer work. Over the years, the volunteer program has changed, in part because of the contributions of individuals like Meyers.
“One of the things I did in my career, I used to be the international quality manager, so in doing that, it was all about procedures, protocols, policies, auditing and training,” Meyers said. “So when I came to the police department, obviously the police is procedure and policy driven so it was a good match for me. That’s one of the things I enjoyed about it because it’s about doing the right thing over and over again and training people to do that.”
Though he is no longer a resident in Coronado, now a resident of La Mesa, he didn’t give up on his law enforcement and Coronado community with the move.
“When I left, somebody said, ‘Why don’t you just go do it where you do it [in La Mesa]?’” Meyers said. “Well, I got to know Coronado. I got to know the strength of the department and the people here. And a lot of it is just about the friendships you’ve developed.”
Meyers said that this program is not possible without the contributions and communal efforts of a lot of retired individuals. There are currently 23 volunteers in the program, and he said they’re always looking for more to join.
“It’s not about me,” Meyers said. “It’s about the group. To me, it’s all about the senior volunteer patrol, and I’m a small part.”
“It’s not about me. It’s about the group. To me, it’s all about the senior volunteer patrol, and I’m a small part.”
Though he claims a small part of the SVP program, he’s not a small part in other areas of Coronado.
Meyers also plays softball in Coronado, twice a week, and he manages his Tuesday team. Opportunities like these are why he continues to stay involved in the Crown city.
“It’s the sense of community,” Meyers said. “It’s just such a small town feel, which isn’t all that small when the visitors come in, but what really attracted us to it is being a beach town. The sense of community and the friends we’ve developed here. I really enjoy everytime you go over the bridge, it’s a good feeling.”
With the softball games and other visits over the bridge, you could say Meyers has exceeded 18,000 hours in the community. Perhaps the mastery is less about the volunteer work and more about knowing and calling Coronado home.
“When you’re giving back, you feel good about it but you also get something back in return,” Meyers said. “The most important thing is the giving back part. You feel like you’re doing something that’s making the community or society better than what it was before you decided to help out.”
