In my
daily virtual roaming in the world of Facebook, a few people have taken part in
what I think is a growing tradition or trend: during the month of
November, the month of Thanksgiving, people are taking a moment each day of the
month and state something that they are thankful for.
Here
is the third post. The groups of people below all have chosen a profession that
either saves lives, helps lives, shapes lives, or inspires lives, with a
significant level of personal sacrifice of time, and the sacrifice of chasing
fame and fortune and glitter.
Disclaimer: By no means do I mean to exclude professions
from this list, nor do I mean that any professions that I do not list are any
less important. In fact, I welcome anyone to add a comment below to list other
professions they are thankful for – the longer the list, the better we all are
as a community.
11/12 – FIRST RESPONDERS: Just as I ended my last post thanking
Veterans for their lives on the line to protect Democracy, freedom, our rights
and opportunities in the abstract, First Responders put their lives on the line to protect us in a very
concrete way, whether fire fighters, EMTs, and ambulance staff, to police
officers and other rescue personnel. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, first
responders, in times of need, work tirelessly and with urgency to not only save
lives, but attempt to take very real potential tragedies, and try to restore
some sense of normalcy, whatever the situation is. First Responders have gotten
a lot of thanks and respect since the 9/11 attacks, and deservedly so.
11/13 – NURSES/MEDICAL STAFF: Right behind First Responders is the various
professions in the nursing and medical field. I’m a little “biased” here, in
that both of my parents, and many of my relatives, are in the medical field. Even
though it’s obvious that these professions are vital in saving and protecting
lives, I think there is an aspect to this profession that is somewhat
understated: it takes a strong
individual to work in a profession where lives may hang in the balance; to
witness the pain and struggle that comes with helping those who are sick and
suffering, whether it’s an instant life-or-death situation, or in treating
someone with a long-term illness. It takes a strong individual to deal with
that stress and emotional pull, and then go about the rest of your day and
responsibilities.
11/14 – TEACHERS: As with the above two groups, it takes a
special person to be a teacher. To be able to guide children to give them the
skills they’ll need in life, both from an academic standpoint and from a
life-skills standpoint (behavioral, social, environmental), is a skill set that
is very specialized and not everyone has the patience and dedication to be
successful. To me, I can’t imagine what it would be like to be responsible for
15-30 different little individuals – and I think that’s an understated aspect. There
is a balance that needs to be found in managing a class as a whole, while
remembering that in fact, each kid is a separate individual with a separate
combination of background, personality, learning abilities, skills, strengths,
etc. There is a lot of responsibility placed on the shoulders of teachers that
in my opinion isn’t recognized enough, and for that, I am thankful.
And
there is one rant that I want to address, specifically: when the teaching profession is discussed,
there seems to be a common feeling that teachers, and I’m paraphrasing, “has it
lucky to have an eight-hour job and then have summers off.” I know several
teachers, and none of them work only an eight-hour day. They all have their
classroom time, but they all bring work home, on nights and weekends, whether
it is grading tests, or creating lesson plans, or giving some students
specialized help – and all of this on top of the heavy responsibility I’ve
outlined above.
11/15 – VOLUNTEERS: I’m including volunteers in this group of
“professions” for two reasons: for some
people, this actually is their profession, and for other people, they devote so
much time to a cause, it could be a “second profession.” There are so many
causes and needs out there to be taken care of, and it’s amazing that there are
people who are completely selfless in devoting significant time. Of course,
there are volunteers in all aspects of life, for all causes, and I would hate
to think of how much more suffering there would be if it weren’t for all of the
volunteers out there, whether the cause is a long-term one, or an immediate
cause in response to a specific situation.
11/16 – ARTISTS: Here, I’m using artists in the broader
sense: literal artists, writers,
photographers, actors, musicians, but those who are truly looking to make an
impact in this world, and not necessarily just for the fame and money of the
pop world. I know this may sound a little judgmental, but to me, in my opinion,
there is a difference between someone who is inspired to contribute to the arts
out of genuine feeling, versus someone who looking to “hit it big” – and yes, I
do understand that’s a fuzzy line between the two.
But,
part of our happiness, in my opinion, comes from seeing something that we can
connect with emotionally, whether it is reading a book, hearing a song, seeing
a photo, etc. Without artists out there who are willing to take an emotional
risk to vulnerably put their heart and soul out there, in the form of
expression, for the public to accept or reject, we wouldn’t have these things
to connect with. And I think this is the aspect to this profession that gets
understated (not that I’m trying to make this a theme of this post); there is a
major emotional risk to putting yourself out there for the general public to
judge. I think that risk is managed by some artists better than others, but
that risk is there, and I am very thankful for those who have taken that risk,
and in the end have inspired me in one way or another.
And
for this post, I’ll end with…
11/17 – MY CAREER: I chose 11/17 to write about being thankful
for my career, as this is the anniversary of my hire date of my current job,
back in 1997 – 15 years ago. I’ve ranted several times about working in the
Corporate World, and about how being an Accountant can be less-than-rewarding. But
there are two things in my career than I am thankful for.
First,
just the fact that I have had one job for 15 years is an accomplishment in
itself, and it is one that I could not do without the recognition by, and
opportunities from, the people I have worked with and for. My career really
isn’t truly mine; my career is a collection of positive, productive interactions
with hundreds of people over the years, all in theory united towards the same
goal but many times separated by differing sub-goals. In my first November
post, I alluded to being thankful for my co-workers; but in this post, I am
thankful to the broader list of people that I have been in contact with,
whether it was a one-time encounter, or peers, colleagues, project team
members, extended partners, etc.
And
second, and I alluded to this in my second November post, I have been lucky
enough that my career has enabled me to have the freedom outside of my
nine-to-five to be able to do and explore the things I have learned to enjoy. I
know there are many careers out there where the time demands and career demands
don’t allow this, and I also know that I am lucky to have held a job
consistently for this long. I do not have lofty aspirations for my career – I
am not a “career-person”. But I am thankful for my career and what is has done
for me.
___
Again,
I encourage everyone to at least think about the things you’re thankful for.
Times are tough all over the place; there is a lot of stress and pressure and
pain and suffering out there in the circles I’m in, and I feel it. Being
thankful may not take any of that away, but hopefully create just enough of a
positive feeling to make life just a little bit brighter.
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