As I was jogging
my way this morning, I saw a boy by the side of a narrow but busy highway intently
looking at the middle of the road. I
realized that he was waiting for a chance to pick up a coin that must have
fallen off from the pocket of his loose school pants while running to his
school. But a lot of vehicles were fast
passing by that by the looks of it, he will never have a chance of being able
to retrieve his coin. Then finally, a
car stopped, perhaps the driver recognizing the coin and understanding the
predicament of the boy. Several other
vehicles stopped behind the car but almost all where honking their horns
obviously disgusted at the car that has just stopped. But the driver patiently waited for the boy
to pick his coin and return to safety before continuing his journey.
The scene led me
back to a recent seminar I attended where as an “ice breaker”, the speaker let
the audience loudly recite some sentences with the following thoughts:
I love my work
and so I love to report everyday.
I feel valued as
an employee.
I’ll have to do
everything I can so I can get promoted.
The sentences
made me ask my seatmate, “Don’t you think something is wrong with the third
sentence?” I simply got a grin. Perhaps
my seatmate disagrees with what I was thinking.
My opinion is that in most workplaces today, there is that egocentric
mindset among employees in advancing their careers. “Doing everything” would sometimes include
actions even if it means disregarding welfare of others. It may not be direct but it is actually about
harming colleagues. It is understandable
that when one gets promoted, one have the feeling of being valued and perhaps
would foster love for work. But how
about others who may have been harmed in the process? It is obvious not every one would get
advancement in career at a single point of time and there a lot of other
factors, but competition has got to be healthy.
Thus “doing everything” should be moderated to minimize egotism and cater
more to solidarity at work. It means “stopping”
sometimes so others, just like the small boy, can have a chance to pick what is
valuable to them. But then life is a
fast highway.
After getting to
the sidewalk, the boy ran to the direction of his school. I believe he was more than happy for having
retrieved his coin which must be part of a meager pocket money for his
snacks. I wished the boy would one day remember
that moment when a car stopped for him.
I wish that boy would also halt someday for others while reaching and
even surpassing his own goals.
