Socks.
An interesting topic. Now for most of us, when we do laundry one sock mysteriously always goes missing. This is at no fault of the person doing the laundry but still remains a mystery at large. Not thinking too much of this mundane incident I left my house hurriedly for work. Stepping outside I happened upon the mailman.
The Mailman.
What on earth would we do without the mailman?? He/She is the only reason any of us receive postcards, birthday cards, graduation and wedding announcements, bills, jury duty notifications.. the list goes on and on. In truth however, our world would cease to exist as we know it without the reliable mailman. As I drove away impatiently waiting for my air conditioning to kick in, the question of how his AC would function came to mind. I watched him get out of his truck from my rear view mirror walking around an obstacle course of cars to put the mail into it's slots and then climb back into his open air truck. He must be so hot in the 90+ Utah weather.
At work I was privileged to pick up the telephone from a not so satisfied customer complaining about a ring that they had not received in a desired amount of time. I apologized to them and reassured the customer that they would get the ring soon. As I hung up the phone I thought about the mail system and even more so about that particular mailman. What it must be like to have all those people depending on you. How he worked so hard and all alone. He never really interacted with people like I do every day in retail.
After work (sorry for the play by play) I went to the mall. A meaningless and trivial journey. Or so I though. Upon entering the mall I came across a boy and his mother. Two hurried people in a rather busy world. The little boy had just thrown up all over the floor next to the dizzying colorful carousel. The mother looked around embarrassed at the many disgusted faces that cut into her gaze. She hurried herself and her little boy away in shame, weighed down by a shade of scarlet burning through her cheeks and neck. I hurried on around the mess and my heart went out to the mother and her not feeling so well son. What kind of situation today must have been for the two of them I imagined.
What it must have been like for this dear sweet mother to take such a small child into the gigantic maze of a mall. Entrusting that her little six year old boy would be safe and on his very best behavior. I though of a time when I was that age and my mom had brought me to this very mall and I had gotten lost. I thought I would never see her again. Saddened that I had tried so hard to be on my best behavior and had fallen short of my mothers' request. This little boy had undoubtedly sat in many fitting rooms trying on clothes and waiting for Mom. She would have been so proud of Him by the end of the excursion that she had bought him an ice cream that was gobbled down like the best tasting manna from heaven. And Mom, beaming with joy and pride for her son would have let her little boy go on the carousel just once to let Him know what an amazing kid he was. And as he sat down a little sick inside, he couldn't help his poor fragile small body from what happened next.
Passing them and completing my mission and exiting out of the mall I was stunned to see a janitor cleaning up the mess that this little boy had made. I watched in awe as I passed seeing him work quickly and efficiently as almost everyone who passed him turned the other way as if to make him completely invisible. I walked by in silence too floored to say or do anything.
Janitors.
I had a very thought provoking commute home. Finally everything that day came together. My Mom, the Mailman, and the Janitor all had one very interesting thing in common. They all preform "invisible jobs". Jobs that almost every day are preformed and carried out that make our lives function the way that they do. These jobs aren't usually noticed when they are done however. Nobody gets a Nobel Peace prize for cleaning up vomit on the mall floor. And no one will get a scholarship for delivering someones mail. These jobs that are done every single day, and only are ever questioned when they aren't completed.
Many of these jobs occur in situations where there would not be very much actual interaction with other people. I began to wonder how many times someone had actually expressed gratitude to these individuals. I would suspect not very often. I would also suspect that this fact alone must be a little bit discouraging. Our lives are continually being made easier and smoother by "invisible people" who perform "invisible jobs".
I would like to thank and encourage anyone who reads this to thank anyone and everyone who might preform these invisible jobs. Be it cleaning up throw up, delivering mail, or simply cleaning socks. THANK YOU! Because if it were not for all of you amazing people out there, life would come to a crashing halt and cease to exist as we know it. So for all of you invisibles, you are noticed, you are incredible, and you are making a difference. Thank you :)
Speaking of Invisible jobs...
Hope this makes you laugh ;)
