Not just a job
Seven minutes away from “deadline” and my screen is blank.
There are at least 10 different ideas in my mind to write about and I’m sure I can find a hundred causes, cases and concerns that would quickly fill up a columns’ worth of work. But that is not what this “job” is all about.
It’s not about producing 950 words to form a coherent thought and process. If that were the goal, I would just go find a politician to pick on or some useless government official.
Every task requires effort but not every task is a job. Some people are blessed to be doing something they are truly passionate about and they do the work with joy. That, they say is not a job, it’s having fun.
If you watched “Columnists” from a distance, chances are you would have second thoughts about saying columnists have fun when they write. We stare, we glare, we frown, we growl. Once in a rare while we smile, we even laugh, but only once in a while.
But come to think of it, we, or at least I have fun!
There is joy, and it can be fun to shed light upon what is hidden. To confront what cowards run away from or even to expose your inner most faults and short-comings and to be rid of your ghosts, your fears and then to be told how bold and how brave you are. Yes writing a column often compares to going Bungee jumping.
It is humbling and equally inspiring to be used as a messenger of inspiration, to discover how in baring your soul you have somehow helped someone save theirs. It is even more rewarding to read the words of those who read our work and to be equally moved and inspired by their testimony.
Truth be told, time and again, I have even learned from what readers have shared.
As exciting as it sometimes may be, all of us, including you dear reader, know that our respective “jobs” or passion can be like our mother we can’t lie to or our wife who knows us “warts and all”. Our profession stares at us and demands a measure of excellence and integrity.
Against those standards, our job conspires with our conscience like some Harry Potter School Mistress poking us with her wand, challenging us about the truth in our work, and then pointing towards an unseen mirror to see if “Pride”, “Arrogance” or “Fear” have become the monkey on our back?
The tragedy is in order to get those monkeys off your back, you often have to slap yourself or stay as far as possible from their keepers. Yes “Pride”, Arrogance” and “Fear” are unfaithful companions like social climbers and influence peddlers, those monkeys usually ride on the back of driven, successful people who are not accountable to anyone, especially to themselves.
As the clock ticks away, I feel myself racing to beat a deadline long past. Yes, the writers block has yet again beat me to that imaginary finish line, but it does not give me license to stop in my tracks and leave the course. No, I must continue, I must cross the line and I must submit my work.
It is expected of me and others wait for me to hand over my work so that they can do theirs. In moments when it would be simpler to call in sick or ask the editor to “cover for me”, I remind myself that others are waiting, others are counting on me and this is where the fun stops and the job kicks in. If the “Newsboy” is to deliver, then I must first deliver.
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I recently conducted a team building activity where several participants felt that one reason their organization was being hampered in its forward movement was because people had lost their passion. An equal number of participants pointed to several “leaders” who were not leading but were criticizing and complaining.
So what else was new? As far as business and management practices are concerned, those two observations are par for the course and I would ordinarily have dismissed them as something you simply try to improve, get rid of or live with.
However, prior to the start of this particular affair, I turned into a one-man text brigade asking my Christian and Catholic friends to please cover me in prayer so that I would have both protection, favor and wisdom.
I received all that and more.
When the Team addressed the issue of passion gone missing, I shared the revelation that many, if not all were very passionate. Unfortunately, when you work for an organization for two to three decades many things happen.
People fall into a routine, they get stuck in their comfort zone, others want to move further and beyond, others get promoted, while others get left behind. New faces come in; the old ones eventually choose to stay behind their desks, while a handful wage their personal wars and little battles.
The handful they called “troublemakers” or “The Resistance” have managed to kept their “passion intact” and visible. However, the passion took the form of anger and resistance.
In their mind they believed they were still doing the right thing. They were still fighting for what they thought was good for the company and they did so with feelings and emotions. They simply did not see their “passion” had negatively transformed.
Passion like our Spirit is a gift from GOD. It is not something that easily dies or is quickly distinguished. Unfortunately, all too often we use it or abuse it and think that just like physical energy, we can tell our brain to release passion. Big mistake.
The troublemakers were pumping up their passion for the wrong reason and came up with the wrong results. But that is not as bad as those who chose to tuck away their passion or throw it away altogether.
My friends and I often remind people: “If you don’t use it, you lose it”.
Intelligence, relationships, resources, spiritual blessings, all these are gifts. They were given to you to serve a purpose greater than yours.
In the course of the team building, we discovered that so much of the “missing passion” had simply been left at home or some drawers in the office, just waiting and wanting to used to help their owners, their team, their company, to fulfill the purpose of GOD.
Live with Passion, Love with Passion.
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