“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Over the past three years, I have come to greatly appreciate the maintenance staff at my apartment complex. These men are the most dedicated professionals that I have ever seen.
Tonight, I came home to discover that my toilet, which has been running non-stop for the past two days, was still running after two previous maintenance calls. After dinner, I made yet another call to the after-hours maintenance answering service and within 20 minutes another maintenance guy came to look into my leaky toilet. He came right into my bathroom and without a second thought he took the top off of my toilet and immediately plunged his bare hands into my toilet to further investigate the problem. Being the uber girly girl that I am, I was grossed out by the sight of this guy sticking his hands in sewer water and fiddling with toilet parts. When I got over my gagging moment, I was humbled by the fact that this man honored his job enough to answer my after-hours page, stop whatever he was doing, and make his way to my apartment to solve my problem. I’m assuming that at 8:30 at night he was probably kicking back with his family or maybe about to crack open a cool can of beer before Monday Night Football. But, instead he was up to his elbows in my toilet water. Even though my toilet still isn’t working properly (Argh!), I profusely thanked him for coming to my apartment. There certainly isn’t much glamor and prestige in the maintenance field, but these seemingly small and thankless tasks that these men do make a huge difference in the comfort that I have in my home.
After the maintenance guy left, I began thinking about the opening quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. I realize that there is great honor in doing every job well and with excellence. Even in my day job as a book editor where cynicism flows more readily than praise, I have to remember that every little thing that I do for my authors is valuable, whether I receive a compliment or not. If I don’t show up and do my part, the world will not have the benefit of my meticulous editing skills, my special jokes, and my laugh that has been known to light up a room. Obviously, I’m being a little braggadocios here, but we all have to remember that who we and every little thing what we do MATTERS to somebody.
We all can’t be Oprah, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or President Obama. Somebody has to deliver the mail, remove the trash, teach the kids, and maintain the roads. While these jobs aren’t particularly sexy or noteworthy, there is no job too small or inconsequential when it is done well and with honor.
While I pray that my professional path will not involve me getting elbow-deep in toilet water any time soon, I am so honored and inspired this man who attended to my toilet with such fervor and care that I am dedicating this day to working as hard and as passionately as he does.
Let every little thing that you do today light up the world around you!
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