Just before the end of the year I had a routine doctor's appointment, as I prepared to leave, I thanked the doctor and I wished him a happy new year. As he walked out the examination room door on the way to his next patient, he responded to me over his shoulder, by saying "Guaranteed."
I was so surprised and impressed by his attitude. He had just removed a suspicious sun spot from my back that ultimately was benign but in that moment he completely inspired me to renew my outlook on the new year ahead.
How many of us do our job that way in light of the world around us? With the sluggish economy, so many people out of work and scrapping to get by, businesses closing all over our neighborhoods, soldiers in harm's way over seas and friends stricken with illness it would be an understatment to say some days are downright dreary.
My doctor blessed me in that moment and I knew before receiving the lab results that I had absolutely nothing to worry about. He was right.
He reminded me of a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. that I had first seen 13 years ago posted on the home page of my police department network computer:
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, 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 street sweeper who did his job well.”
This motivational quote was not lost on me, I was inspired to be a better public servant. Some days I was so worn out by the constant reports of crime and abuse it was easy to fall into an attitude of indifference. I wrote that quote down on a yellow sticky note and taped it inside the lid of my metal report case as a reminder I was in fact the person taking the report and not the victim who had called me for help.
I could picture the street sweeper with a smile on his face, whistling a tune as he pushed trash out of the street, pleased, in full realization of his grand place in the scheme of things, the beauty of his link in the chain of the universe. This image always lifted my spirits. It humbled me to imagine how Martin Luther King Jr. himself would not have been ashamed to be a street sweeper, in so many ways that was exactly who he was, the ultimate public servant.
I do believe if we throw our hearts full tilt towards our dreams for the new year and share our love for each other unabashed, in words and deeds, that the faith we carry in those our best intentions can transform life all around us. Many of my friends and family consider me the ultimate "Pollyanna", it's true and for this confession I will not apologize or repent.
Some say there are no guarantees but I say "attitude is everything".
Have a wonderful and prosperous new year!
Sincerely,
Jennifer
