Vent
The best way to break a person’s spirit is to give him false
hope.
Say you’re a mailman. You deliver the mail everyday as best
as you can, on time and in the best condition. Every person in your mail route
knows that you perform like clockwork and they can’t imagine having another
mailman servicing their neighborhood.
One day, someone tells you that there’s a very real
possibility that you will become a mail sorter. And in your mailman world, you
know that being a mail sorter is a higher level than being a mailman. You don’t
have to stay in the sun all day. You work in the comforts of an air-conditioned
room. And the pay is so much better.
But the neighborhood finds out that you were being
considered as the mail sorter and the neighborhood protests. They say they need
you as their mailman because you’re the best person for the job. The mailing
company then tells you that you can’t be a mail sorter anymore.
You realize that what you really are is a tool. A reliable
machine. Like an oven is expected to cook food or a car is expected to bring
you from one place to another, the truth is that you are appreciated only as
long as you perform. You are not expected to feel, to dream, to hope.
As you go back to your mailman chores, you decide that the
job is really just a means to an end. It’s not supposed to be your life. And
working hard — in truth — isn’t going to bring you anywhere.
