the joe's of the world
i think we're only as spiritual as we are after a long day and still having to go to the local bottle return. our kindness is only as wide as the screen flashing "out of order please see attendant". and our patience only as deep, seeing as there is no attendant and the entire city has chosen the same night to deposit all of their glass, aluminum, and plastic.
forget yoga retreats and world peace summits. these ordinary moments are where the rubber of humanity meets the road, my friends.
were it not for the kind young kid, we'll call him joe, who without complaining fixes one bin after another, dislodging broken glass in a sticky, overheated machine with a smile on his face.
lines forming, joe works with the precision of a surgeon, fixing all of them only to have all of them break down after a bottle or two. joe is unrattled. joe deserves a raise.
i tell him so while more than one customer leaves in an almost stroke-inducing fit of rage.
it's daylight savings time and employee joe is spending his extra hour wrestling mounds of crumpled, ten-cent recycling when he'd probably rather be out with friends.
after my machine breaks a fourth time, this time on a kombucha bottle, joe offers to hand count all of my glass. this kid's a saint.
three cheers for the joe's of the world! who in your daily routine could use an extra dose of kindness, patience, or praise?
forget yoga retreats and world peace summits. these ordinary moments are where the rubber of humanity meets the road, my friends.
were it not for the kind young kid, we'll call him joe, who without complaining fixes one bin after another, dislodging broken glass in a sticky, overheated machine with a smile on his face.
lines forming, joe works with the precision of a surgeon, fixing all of them only to have all of them break down after a bottle or two. joe is unrattled. joe deserves a raise.
i tell him so while more than one customer leaves in an almost stroke-inducing fit of rage.
it's daylight savings time and employee joe is spending his extra hour wrestling mounds of crumpled, ten-cent recycling when he'd probably rather be out with friends.
after my machine breaks a fourth time, this time on a kombucha bottle, joe offers to hand count all of my glass. this kid's a saint.
three cheers for the joe's of the world! who in your daily routine could use an extra dose of kindness, patience, or praise?
I really appreciate this post. Every one of us benefits from the often thankless hard work of so many others. When you have a moment to actually thank one of those people and you take it: that’s gold!! Thank you for being someone who does this.
ReplyDeleteI sure try! We should all swap roles with someone sometime to see what their world is like...or at least try to imagine it for empathy's sake. The more we serve, the more we appreciate the art of service, I think!
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