Humbling Perspective

Today I watched an episode of Dirty Jobs.   It's one of my all time favorite shows on TV.  I must admit, I have a teeny bit of a crush on Mike Rowe  (don't worry, Don is well aware of my crush, as I am aware of his celebrity crush- I won't name her here to save him from embarrassment).  I love this show, and appreciate Mike Rowe, for showing the world what it's like to have job that most of us would never want to do.  He does it in such a respectful way that truly honors "Everyman."

The episode I watched today highlighted the dirty jobs at a diaper service.  Having had a child in diapers for the past 15 months, I can only begin to imagine what it's like to be the dirty diaper picker upper, sorter and cleaner. I don't enjoy the smells that originate from the diapers of this ONE sweet, precious child (who I helped create).

So the thought of being surrounded by hundreds of dirty diapers, filled with messes made by children who are not my own, is a bit revolting and definitely not on my dream jobs list.

But here's the beauty of it... the guy who cleans the diapers has done it for 30 years.    He likes doing it, it keeps him from being tied to a desk.  At first I thought, how sad, to be happy to throw 600 lbs of dirty diapers into a washing machine day in and day out.  But then I realized, how lucky is this guy to be happy doing a job that no matter how gross most people may think it is, how routine it may be, no matter how many times he has to fix a broken machine, he's happy?  It hit me like a ton of bricks- the reminder that for the most part, we create our own happiness (or misery).  If we're given loads of crap to deal with we can either wash it out, keep going and be happy with the outcome or we can just think about how rotten our load of crap is.

Things have been much better here in Good Ol Guam lately, but this reminds me I need to keep creating my happiness to get to the really happy content place I know I can be.