The Creative Energy of a Federal Ombuds

As an Associate Ombuds for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Dr. Belinda Robinson utilizes poetry as a creative outlet. She gracefully presented two examples of how she uses this medium to share appreciation for the role she has within the Ombuds community. The following was shared at the Coalition of Federal Ombudsman (COFO) conference in 2021 in recognition of Ombuds Day 2021:

The Federal Ombuds
By Belinda M. Robinson, Ph.D.
October 15, 2021

Trying times throughout the years
Erase your doubts
And calm your fears
The Federal Ombuds are here
Confidential, neutral, and informal
That’s how we do it everyday
Independent in every way
But we still managed to have
Our own day
And today we celebrate
Ombuds’ Day
Diverse in people, agency mission and vision
Yet, united in the way we work
Providing service before self
And, we’ve even added articles and books
To the Ombuds’ body of knowledge shelf
No matter the weather, crisis, or pandemic
Bring us your challenging dilemmas
And we will stand up in it
To help you determine the best way to handle them
While we provide fair and equitable resolution
Of your concerns
The Federal Ombuds are who we are
Visit us in person or virtually
Let us help you
Cause it’s what we do
Happy Ombuds’ Day
To all of you!

 

The next poem was also shared in recognition of Ombuds Day 2022 (It was originally embedded in a slideshow and was reformatted to present in this post):

It’s Ombuds Day: A Poem
by Belinda M. Robinson, Ph.D
October 13, 2022

365 days have passed
It’s our Ombudsaversary
Handling everything from A to Z
Under the independent, neutral, informal
and confidential umbrella 
Perspective…  Big picture…
Highlighting another’s point of view
No right or wrong answer
Respect - Resilience - Resolve
Understanding our organizations’ heartbeat
Because, we slay conflict everyday, the Ombuds way
No Matter what we’re called
We’re still here
to answer your call to serve
October 14, 2022
Another year
we seen it through
We’re here to hear you
Internal
External
It doesn’t matter
Virtual or in person
the same service
the same courtesies
and listening ears
Problems new or old 
Some we’ve never seen or heard
Regardless, we still get the job done
We are, the Federal Ombuds!
COFO, IOA, USOA, NASOP and others
All targets achieved
And, we look forward to our
facilitations and conflict resolution meetings
Every year, we will share
Happily giving
So, others can receive
a reprieve…
With reasonable and respectful recommendations
To minimize and eliminate the confusion
All occupations covered exceptionally well
With so many ombuds stories 
We wish 
We could tell
Because, everyone just has to know
Where’s the Office of the Ombuds?
Proclamations,
Acknowledgements, 
Repeat Customers,
Thank Yous 
= Ombuds ARE Appreciated!
Celebrating 
YOU, ME, and WE
Happy Ombudsaversary!

 

Kudos to Belinda for sharing her wonderful creative energy. We would love to see further examples of the creative energy of our members and encourage you to share yours by submitting examples of your work via the submission portal. We will work with you to craft a post to bring your work to our membership.

Share this post:

Comments on "The Creative Energy of a Federal Ombuds"

Comments 0-15 of 0

Please login to comment