Risk Services Of Arkansas - September 2021

Risk Services Of Arkansas - September 2021

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September 2021

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LAYING BRICKS AND BUILDING CATHEDRALS

Why Every Kind of Work is Equally Valuable

A lot of people would think of shoe shining as a back-breaking, meaningless job. And sure, shoe shiners aren’t hotshot attorneys or big-time businesspeople, but this guy liked his work, had a talent for it, and probably made over $50 per hour doing it. I think he did his job well simply because he had pride in the job he did and the difference he made in the look of his customer’s shoes. If you do your job well and appreciate it for what it truly is, I don’t think that you’ll ever truly be a minimum-wage worker. Or, at the least, I’m sure you won’t be minimum wage for long. That reminds me of an anecdote that I heard a long time ago, about three bricklayers. One day, a man saw three men laying bricks at a construction site. When he asked the first bricklayer what he was doing, the worker responded matter-of-factly (but somewhat sullenly), “I’m laying bricks.” The man asked the second bricklayer the same question, to which the worker responded, “I’m building a wall.” Finally, he asked the third bricklayer what he was doing, and, smiling peacefully and enthusiastically, the worker answered, “I’m building a cathedral.” Each bricklayer was doing the exact same job, but which one of the three do you think did a better job? Probably the one who understood the true value of the work. Even though some jobs seem menial, the truth is that they’re all important. Is the pay level great at the bottom of the ladder? Probably not, but there is a ladder to climb — and you start climbing by valuing the work in front of you and doing it well.

Sept. 6 is Labor Day, a day to celebrate workers and their contributions to our society. For over a year and a half now, I think our country has come to terms with how valuable every job is to our economy, whether some government bureaucrat deemed them “essential” or not. Unemployment spiked when businesses were forced to shut down, and it’s still high in many places. Now, many businesses are also grappling with a labor shortage as some workers are hesitant to return to work. I think, if anything, the lesson to be learned here is that work is important. Every job has value beyond just its economic value. No matter where on the company ladder your job falls, whether at the entry level or at the top, I believe every job has intrinsic value and every job has value because it is essential to the functioning of the business, or it wouldn’t exist. I used to fly a lot for my job, and I would find myself at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston fairly often. While there, I would seek out a particular person — a shoe-shine guy who, in my opinion, was the best shoe shiner ever. As someone who served in the military, I feel like I know a little bit about what constitutes a good shoe shine, and let me tell you, I would have this guy shine my shoes every time I could catch him while he was working. In fact, if I traveled with anyone, I would pay to have this guy shine their shoes too. And no one was ever dissatisfied. When I would find him, he usually had a person or two waiting for a shoe shine, as an indicator of his popularity. And here’s the crazy thing: The guy seemed to really enjoy his work. Every time I would get a shoe shine from him, he was always cheerful and talkative. You could see in his face that he enjoyed using his skill and that he found his work meaningful.

–Brad Johnson President, Risk Services of AR

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Ride-share apps might be doing more than just giving people another means of getting around town — they might actually be saving lives. According to research done by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the number of people using ride-share apps had an inverse correlation with the number of motor vehicle collisions and impaired driving convictions over the past seven years. The research team looked at >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

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