“If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
I once had a guy doing some work on a house we had purchased before we moved in. One of the phrases he would use was “It’s good enough for government work.”
How sad.
I remember hearing a story, obviously from a long time ago based on the dollar amounts discussed, which makes an interesting comparison of attitudes.
One hot summer day, a man named Dave was working with a group of other men on a railroad, doing repairs. After a while, a train engine towing on car came along. A voice came from the car saying, “Dave, is that you?” He replied, “Yes, Jim, it’s me.”
It was Jim Wallace, the president of the railroad. Jim said, “Well come on in and we will catch up.” Well, Dave was more than happy to get out of the hot sun, and went into the air-conditioned train car for some lemonade and talk.
After an hour, Dave came back out and resumed working with his crew, as the train with Jim pulled away.
His astounded crew said, “Dave, that was Jim Wallace!” “I know,” Dave replied.
“But Jim Wallace is the president of the railroad! How did you get to know him so well?”
Dave answered, “Well we both started working at the railroad 22 years ago on the same day, and we have been friends ever since.”
One member of the crew asked, “Well if you both started with the railroad 22 years ago, how come he’s president of the railroad, and you are still out here working so hard.”
Dave responded, with sad tone in his voice, “22 years ago Jim Wallace went to work FOR the railroad. I went to work for $1.45 an hour.”
Whatever you do in life, make sure that it is for the benefit of those you are involved with, as well as for yourself. It will pay dividends in the long run.
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