A man sitting at the bar is complaining to the bartender about his job. The bartender asks the man what he does for a living. The now inebriated bar patron explains that he has worked for the circus for 10 years, cleaning up after the elephants, with a shovel and wheel barrow the only tools he uses to accomplish this task. The bartender agrees with the man saying, “That sounds like a pretty rough job. Why don’t you find another line of work?” To which the customer replies, “And what? Give up SHOW BUSINESS?”
I recently read the book, and then saw the movie, “Water for Elephants”. I recommend them both, but if you need to choose only one, read the book. I don’t recall the movie really addressing the issue of elephant waste as well as the book did, but that’s not the reason for my preference. The book just told the whole story more thoroughly than the movie. But I digress.
Me and my Lovely Bride? or a picture of
the stars of "Water for Elephants"? Who knows?
We’ve all had some pretty crappy jobs. Whether it is due to youth, inexperience, paying your dues, or learning the ropes, we’ve all been in the elephant cleanup guy’s shoes at some point in our lives. A positive attitude, however, can make tough jobs seem more palatable.
Probably the best job I ever had, as an equipment manager for the Gopher football team, had a lot of fun aspects to it, but there was a lot of crappy tasks as well. Doing laundry every day for 120 players and 20 staff members was tedious. The hours, in season, were ridiculous. And, some of the coaches’ egos were insufferable. But, working a unique job, and spending time with bright, talented, hard-working, college athletes and support staff, far outweighed the bad parts of the job.
The job I have right now at the University of Minnesota can at times be tedious but all in all it is quite satisfying. I like the people I work with, my superiors are good people, and being on campus, with a great benefit package is nice. In my position I do invoicing and financial reporting for some of the research grants that various professors at the U of M have been awarded.
Some of the research is fascinating. I don’t often hear the particulars, but some of the work I DO know about is truly fascinating. A recent article in the Minnesota Daily (the school newspaper – somewhat a misnomer as it is now only published 4 times a week – again I digress) revealed the fact that doctors at the medical school are doing ground-breaking work on Deep Brain Stimulation (the procedure my dad just had) for Parkinson’s patients (dad has a different malady). Without the work done by doctors and researchers like those at the U of M and the Mayo Clinic, phrenology (the study of the shape and size of ones cranium as indicators of character and mental illness) might still be the state of the art in brain science. Thank God we’ve progressed, through research, as far as we have.
Another team of researchers has been working with stem cells hoping to harness the awesome regenerative capabilities they contain. Somehow they were able to “scrub” a rat’s heart, removing all of its cells, leaving only a fibrous shell of the heart. After injecting stem cells into that structure the heart re-formed to look like a normal rat heart, and miraculously, after that, IT BEGAN BEATING! In time, the researches envision a day where it may be possible for humans to store some of their own stem cells to be used to re-generate our own organs as needed later in life. Right now transplanted organs have limited availability, compatibility is an issue, and rejection is a major concern (See Najarian, Dr. John and ALG – another digression). Re-generating your own organs could be viable answers to all three of those issues. The possibilities are amazing!
Once, sometimes twice, a year I am able to hear these researchers’ presentations at different gatherings of us U of M support type workers. The researchers typically do a good job thanking us for doing our jobs so that they can do theirs, reminding us that we are ALL a team, pulling together for the greater good.
So should you ever hear me bitching or grousing about a bad day at work, or complaining about my job, and you ask me, “Why don’t you find a new line of work?” Don’t be surprised if I pause, think of the elephant clean up guy, and respond with the question, “And what? Give up groundbreaking research?”
Who knew?
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