Recently, I stopped at a local jobber to pick up a few items for a repair job. I needed brake pads and an oil filter, no big deal. But the nearest dealer was miles away, so I ventured into a local parts house for the first time. It was fairly busy time of day, and I waited patiently for the crest of the wave at the counter to pass. Then finally, I had three countermen all to myself. What I didn’t know was that they had already given their last full measure of devotion to the teeming throng pulling out of the parking lot.