As I sit here at the spanking clean departure lounge of the Senai Airport (officially its Sultan Ismail Airport but my security-check label says its Senai Aiport and I too prefer the latter), I am observing a cleaning lady going about her work. For the past 35 minutes or so she has been going up and down the aisle where I am facing, cleaning it to a shine. First, she cleaned it from dust, then it was a wet mop and finally (I thought) a dry mop. No. She was not finished. She came back again one more time to make sure she had not missed a spot.
This morning, I was served my first coffee of the day by a young man at the Crystal Crown hotel. He was smiling and courteous. As I was one of the few there so early in the morning, he greeted me and asked whether I was heading back to the airport. I said no and that I was actually getting ready for work at a client’s place (without telling what exactly I do). I then asked him what time he will go off and he replied “In about 30 minutes”. Which meant, it will be 7 am then. Then it dawned on me that he had been working the night shift which typically in a hotel means : 7pm – 7am. Yet, he was smiling and having a friendly chat with me. Doing things that were not probably expected or required of a 3-star hotel waiter in Malaysia.
My taxi driver, whom I used for all my running about the last 2 days was a jovial and cheeky guy. He had something cute to say to all the toll booth girls and they responded with a smile or laugh. He had scars on his face and looked like a possible ‘gangster turned good” type. Even after driving around the madly crowded JB city, he still had that cheerfulness about him. He made me relax on the way back to the airport a little while ago although I was drained after an excuriuatingly difficult session with a group of people who took me on (unofficially) as their therapists!
Coming back to the cleaning lady; I don’t see her anymore. Probably cleaning another spot somewhere else in this building.
What I am thinking is : how many times had her supervisors said ‘thank-you’ or ‘good job’ to her this past one week? How many ‘pats on the back’ did that young man get or how many thank you’s did my taxi driver get?
What is it about us humans and our world of work? What is it that absorbs us into it?. It takes our life. We want to work. We want to contribute. We want to envelope ourselves with meaning and we use our work to provide that meaning. Without work, life has no meaning. Yet, we have not mastered this magic and use it to lead our people. We hardly understand the meaning of work in our own lives. Its amazing that we understand so little of something that takes up our entire lives.
On my study table at home, I have a little post-it-note with the words “ Every little act of work can become creation – beautiful and holy. Worship through work”. Krishna told Arjuna to act. When Arjuna sat in despair and threw his armour and weapons to the ground, Krishna had basically said “ Get up you fool…do your job. You are a soldier. So, fight you lazy potato”. And so Arjuna fought.
There is magic in work. But, there is miracle in those who work for passion. Its a tragedy when they are not recognised.
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