"In life, we often place merit on someone based on the job they have. We may not mean to, but it's no real fault of ours if we do -- it's been ingrained in 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 often decide whether or not we're worthy of their attention, based on the job we have and the material things said job can bring.
We see someone being chauffeured from place to place and immediately imagine they must be quite important.
In social media, this feeling is only exacerbated! Our blogs become popular, we allow Ads to be posted to our site, we get followers on Twitter, friends on Facebook, conferences invited us to speak; even the blogosphere has badges of merit to show how smart bloggers are.
When one has that kind of adulation, it's easy to mistake one's importance and think one's job is something it's not. Sure, someone might have a great job with a personal secretary; someone else's golf course fees and table service might cost more than it takes to get a child through college.
Now, think about this:
If every blogger in the world stopped blogging tomorrow, we'd still get our news and opinion pieces. Sure, 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, subways, motorbikes, and even bicycles (not to mention our feet) to get around on.
If every girlfriend or boyfriend dumped his or her partner tomorrow, we'd still get by with our imaginations.
Life would go on.
There are jobs we often consider to be of lesser worth. What would life look like without them?
If every trash collector quit tomorrow, we'd be faced with disease-ridden streets and pestilence and uncontrollable rat infestations (New Yorkers, you think we have it bad when they break ground for a new subway system? We ain't seen nuthin' yet)
If every sewage worker quit tomorrow, our streets, our toilets, our running water would be LITERALLY overrun with crap.
If every school crossing guard quit tomorrow, how long would our children stay safe while navigating busy intersections?"
We look at life through odd lenses. We see people in a dimmer light because their job is perhaps not as socially acceptable as those six and seven figure posts. We celebrate our own importance, we compete, we seek approval instead of acceptance. Yet for the self-important person, take away their job, and the world still goes on. Our existence continues even if the source of our self importance were to disappear over night.
At the end of the day, we all have something important to do and to offer. Whether our calling is as a dancer, a teacher, a cobbler, a jeweler, a dreamer; we all have something worthwhile, something CONSTRUCTIVE, to offer society.
In a time as full of infighting, greed, anger, and lack of focus as the United States is currently facing, we can all stand to remember the commonalities we share. We owe it to ourselves, about each other, and to our country to be the best, happiest, most constructive versions of ourself that we can be.
Next time you have the choice to either build up or tear down, choose the positive route. Build. Create. Move. Laugh. Give.
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