| When I was in
college I read a book by Albert Camus called “The Myth of
Sisyphus”. In the book Sisyphus is cursed. He is doomed to
push a boulder up a mountain only to have it roll down in order for him
to push it back up the mountain. For the existentialist, life is
meaningless drudgery. We are ever pushing a boulder and then we
die. Work sometimes is like that. From Monday to Friday we
push the boulder and then it rolls down over the weekend and we begin
the process again. Shakespeare in Macbeth puts it this way. “Out,out brief candle. Life's but a walking shadow. A poor player who struts and frets its hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” There was a janitor who cleaned and disinfected men’s shower stalls. The odor from the cleaner was harsh and he had to clean them every week. However he learned of a cleaning agent that worked without the smell. He was so happy that he almost enjoyed cleaning the stalls after that. But things being as they are, by the time two months had passed, he dreaded cleaning the stalls as much as ever. How do we keep things fresh? How do we develop a spiritual life? How do we overcome doom and gloom? I would like to suggest three things. 1. Strive to help others and not just yourself. I minister in a nursing home on Saturdays. The joy I get in seeing these people happy as we sing songs and pray keeps me going. Helping others at work not only will make the other person appreciative but will make you happy as well. 2. Be inclusive. Don't be judgmental or critical. Learn to see the good and beautiful in others and it will make people like you and you will be happy 3. Be extraordinary in the ordinary. All I have done for many years is log in samples and deliver them on a cart. Yet I have many friends in the lab because I do it with joy. Let me leave you with a poem by Robert Frost. Two roads diverged And I, I took the one less traveled by And that has made all the difference Be blessed. |