Chaplain's Corner

I heard a statement the other day that both stirred sadness and anger within my heart.  The statement was made by one of the staff member of the facilities I work in, a member of the housekeeping staff.  I had stopped to chat during the conversation I thanked the person for the job they did.  The response went something like this, “Oh, I’m not very important, I’m only a housekeeper.”

This statement stirred sadness in my heart because it was worded and said in a manner that communicated, “I’m not very important, I just keep this place clean.”  As I listened, I heard both a demeaning of the person and a demeaning of the work the person does.  Neither are accurate statements, for this person is of great worth and the work they do is of great worth.

The sadness I felt, I have experienced many times as I have interacted with people and listen to them speak of themselves and the work they do as if they were of far lesser value than some others and the work they do.  But this is how our culture is structured.  Canadian culture has built into its structures value laden statements that place a higher value on some people and the work that they do based on education, titles, compensation and other externals.  In the health care system doctors are valued above nurses and nurses are valued above health care aids and health care aids are valued above housekeepers and dietary workers and those who work in the laundry.  Why? Education, titles, and compensation? 

This is one of the things that I like about my profession in spiritual care.  One of the values of spiritual care is that of the equal dignity and worth of every individual.  In regards to the spirit, one human spirit is of no greater or lesser value than another, whether that spirit resides in the body of one who has an MD behind their name or whether that spirit resides in the body of one who is homeless and jobless and has little or no standing in our social structures.

So it saddened me that this wonderful person who works diligently, faithfully and does an excellent job, would speak of her self and her work as being of little value. I see these noble people, working in our facility, doing an essential job to insure that our facilities are clean and sanitary and conducive to the healing and caring work we all do here and I long for the day when we look at one another as equals, all doing essential tasks to make it possible for healing to take place.  It saddened me that because the pay scale for this job is less than that of others and the status of this job is considered by many to be less than others that this person would conclude that neither who she is nor what she does is of much value.

But I also felt anger, not at the one who expressed this thought, but at the system that created in people such a sense of low esteem and value.  Nobility of spirit has nothing to do with job tile or pay scale; it has nothing to do with the artificial pecking orders that exists in every segment of our society, but what makes a person noble is that in God’s creative design each person is graced with the capacity to bring a unique and essential gift to the rest of humanity and is likewise gifted to receive the gifts that others bring.  The gift itself is really not the point; it is in the giving and receiving, the connecting that our worth and the worth of our gifts are experienced.

But as angry as I might feel, there is no escaping this reality, there is no way to satiate the anger and put it to rest.  It is one of those angers, a holy one I believe, that must exist for this systemic attach on the value of the person and the value of their contribution to the whole will continue to exist with no real hope of it ever changing, that is as long as this old world exists in it’s current form. 

Even in those socio-political experiments, like communism and socialism, both intended to eradicate such inequities, the reality is that even in those systems that are designed to promote equality, these realities continue to exist.  It is part of our nature (our fallen nature that is) to desire to elevate ourselves above others, to secure our own sense of worth at the expense of someone we consider weaker, and less valuable.

But here is the rub.  Although we live in a world culture that is bent on assigning different values to people based on arbitrary qualities and although all of our efforts to resist this tendency will be futile.  We must continue to resist.  We need to resist this in ourselves, when we either feel superior to or inferior to another based on some cultural criterion.  We need to resist this in our judgment of others, and like it or not we all make these value judgments on both other people and the work they do.  We so quickly take one look at another and before we know anything about the person we assign them a place in the pecking order, we either devalue them or overvalue them, because that is what we do.

I would challenge you to look around the place you work, and be honest about those you assign less value to and those you assign greater value to.  Then, imagine what it would be like if those persons who are assigned lesser value just were not there any longer.  Can you imagine how very quickly the healing work that takes place in a hospital would grind to a stand still if there were no one to do the work of the housekeeping staff, the dietary staff and the laundry staff?  It wouldn’t take long before some of the nurses would have to begin cleaning toilets and mopping floors and sanitizing beds; for if these tasks were not done, it wouldn’t be safe to admit a new patient into those rooms that needed this attention.  Can you imagine how quickly surgical procedures would have to be stopped if the staff in Central Supply stopped sterilizing instruments?  Or can you imagine what would happen if there were no workers in the dietary department and no food trays were delivered for the patients at mealtimes? 

We can no more imagine this, than we can imagine a hospital without doctors or nurses or lab technicians.  So why do we value the latter above the former?  Maybe it is because we are stuck in this fruitless and damaging way of thinking.   So are you up to a challenge? 

Begin to communicate value to everyone in your circle of life.   Work at doing it everywhere you go.  Value the clerk that checks you out at the store.  Value to fellow who pumps your gas, say “Please” and “Thank You” for these courtesy communicate value.  Stop and express your appreciation for something someone is doing.  Appreciation communicates value.  Be patient with those you work with and live with.  Showing patience communicates value.  Look for opportunities to serve someone, even if their role is generally to serve you.  Stack your dishes at the end of the table for the waitress that is serving you.  Hold open the door for the delivery man who is carrying in that new piece of furniture you bought.  Begin to think:  How can I communicate to the people I encounter each day that I value them for who they are and for what they do?  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could make just a few more people we rub shoulders with every day feel that they are valued for who they are and that what they do is a valued service we appreciated?