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Their Voice: Finding value in every job and every worker

By Monica Villar - Special to the Daily Herald | Oct 2, 2021

Courtesy

Monica Villar

I have a poem written on a poster board in my workout room that has been there for years. I don’t remember where I found it and I didn’t know who wrote it until now — Douglas Malloch. The poem reads, “If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill, be a scrub in the valley — but be the best little scrub by the side of the rill, be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a bush be a bit of the grass, and some highway happier make; if you can’t be a muskie then just be a bass — but be the liveliest bass in the lake! We can’t all be captains, we’ve got to be crew, there’s something for all of us here, there’s big work to do, and there’s lesser to do, and the task you must do is the near. If you can’t be a highway then just be a trail, if you can’t be the sun be a star; it isn’t by size that you win or you fail — be the best at whatever you are!” Obviously this poem spoke to me because I took the time to write it out on a poster board and hung it up in a place where I would hopefully see it often.

As a society, we can be pretty judgmental about the status of others and the work that they do. We seem to hold people who make higher incomes with more esteem than those who make lower wages. Because of those stigmas, sometimes people find themselves feeling like what they do isn’t important or valuable to others. You can tell that when you ask someone what they do and they begin with “I’m just …” This feeling of inferiority is often fed by comments that are made by others who don’t intend them to be hurtful but don’t understand the impact. For example, recently as the discussion of increasing wages was being debated on social media, many people referred to jobs at fast food restaurants as “just flipping burgers” as if that job had no value. My intention is not to open up a debate about who deserves higher pay but just to state that every job has value and everyone who does that job should be appreciated and respected for the work they do.

I bring this up now because October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. There are two prevalent schools of thought in this area and I take issue with both. First, it is often assumed that because someone has special needs, they can only do certain jobs that don’t require as much skill; and second, that people with special needs deserve better jobs than those in which they are often relegated. I think that people with special needs who have jobs try to do their best regardless of what it is and instead of classifying jobs as “better” or “worse” we should appreciate the fact that every job has value so every person doing that job also has value regardless of their abilities or the type of work.

I shop at Macey’s grocery store in Spanish Fork every week. Although this is not a plug for Macey’s and there are several reasons I shop there, one of the things that I like best about Macey’s is that there are always people with disabilities working there. They have various roles such as bringing in carts, bagging groceries, stocking shelves or cashiering; however, these roles are not delegated to them because of their disability, for they also have individuals without disabilities doing the same jobs. Each role contributes to the efficiency of the store, which improves their ability to provide customer satisfaction. They seem to be very happy in their work and appreciated by their co-workers for their contribution. As they are doing their specific task, they don’t seem to be questioning their value or contribution. I only use the example of Macey’s because it is one that I experience often. There are many other employers out there who have also created a culture of diversity, inclusion and camaraderie.

Whatever your abilities are and whatever you do for a living, take pride in it. It may not be your long term career goal but when you are doing it, like the poem said “be your best at it.” Someone who goes to work every day and bags groceries with a smile and takes care to make sure nothing gets broken is not “just” a bagger unless they add “I am just the fastest, most efficient, friendliest bagger in the field of bagging.”

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