A lesson of humbleness

A lifetime ago, I was working as a secretary in a consulting company. The nine months I spent there were of great help. I learned a lot about who I am, how I would like to be and remain over the years, how a team looks like and how important it is to be at ease with your colleagues so that yourk work gives good results. Also, I learned important lessons about patience, integrity, responsibility, trust in one's own strength and capacity and modesty.

Thus, when I left there for another role in another company, I highly appreciated the team I had joined, a team with which I still keep in touch, even though there are about seven years since we no longer work together. I am proud of this. Some are not just as lucky to keep in touch with former teams. I must admit, my parents have been very keen about teaching me to observe certain principles, among which that of 'to leave room for hello (I paraphrased the Romanian saying; it means that even though the situation was unbearable, the people involved kept a professional attitude about it)'. But this is not the only reason for managing to keep in contact with former colleagues. I reckon that keeping in touch is a two-way street. Both parties try to stay in touch and so the relationship continues. Even though it is not at the same level as it used to be.

Coming back to the experience I was referring to at the start of this article, I was a main actor in an episode that I constantly go back to.
The cleaning lady at this company used to come a few hours earlier than us so that she could finish cleaning by the time we arrived at the office. One morning, she asked me if she could leave earlier. I asked if she needed help with something and she told me that she needed to hurry home because her daughter was supposed to go to school and since it had snowed a lot the evening before she had to take her daughter's pair of boots.
The image of the two, mother and daughter, sharing the same pair of boots can never be erased from my memory.

To this image I turn to anytime I feel like feeling sorry for myself or I offer it as parable to people who I think will not see it as offensive. I will not think of myself as superior and give you advice about how to live your life. But my experience so far (and that of those I've been blessed with having in my life) shows me that we tend to appreciate the things we no longer have and it is easier to make ourselves feel better if we should compare our lives to those who have it rougher than us. 

I don't draw conclusions, nor offer recommendations. I give you, in return, this lesson of humbleness that I received years ago. Let it guide you when you should think there is no way out!