In life, we often place merit on someone by the job they have. We may not mean to, but it’s no real fault of ours if we do – it’s been ingrained from us almost since we could walk.
Parents tell us to get an education, or we won’t get a good job.
Teachers tell us to study harder, or we won’t get a good job.
Potential girlfriends and boyfriends can decide whether or not we’re worthy of their attention, based on the job we have and the material things that can bring.
We see someone being chauffered from place-to-place and feel they must be really important.
Ironically, in social media, this feeling can be exacerbated.
Our blogs become popular; we get hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter; conferences invite us to speak; we have badges of merit that show how smart we are.
When you have that kind of “adulation”, it’s easy to mistake your importance and think your job is something it’s not. Sure, you may have a great job with a personal secretary; or your golf course fees cost more than it takes to send a child through college; or your blog is quoted in the New York Times.
But does that make you owner of the most important job in the world?
Think about it:
If every single blogger in the world stopped blogging tomorrow, we’d still get our news and opinion pieces. They might be watered down a little, but we’d still get them.
If every chauffeur quit tomorrow, we’d still have cabs, buses, trains, motorbikes and even bicycles to get around on.
If every girlfriend or boyfriend dumped their partners tomorrow, we’d still get by on our imaginations. Life would go on.
Now think about some of the jobs we often look at as lesser, and ask the same question:
If every trash collector quit tomorrow, we’d be faced with disease on the streets as the rats came to town.
If every security guard quit tomorrow, our businesses might follow suit, as we see the bad people come to town.
If every sewage worker quit tomorrow, our streets would be overrun by crap.
If every school crossing guard quit tomorrow, how long would our children stay safe at busy intersections?
We look at life through funny lenses. We see people in lesser light when often we should be shining the light on them. We celebrate our own importance when, often, that importance could be survived if it were to disappear overnight.
The point is, we all have important stuff to do and offer. Let’s try remember that more – yes?
image: Auntie P