Greetings, world!
I hate to admit it, but things have been different since I turned 25 =/...
I think an invisible officer from the corporation called "This is How the World Works" suddenly put this invisible hat on my head that says "Adult", and everybody (except my parents) started treating me like one. I'm really not sure how I feel about this...
So it seems that with added responsibility, comes more contemplation. Today's post is an idea that came to my mind since I started my new job and learning about the people I worked with. In the last couple of months in my new role, I've learned a lot, questioned a lot, and observed a lot. Even though tonight's post is going to be fairly short and different from others I've written, the idea stayed with me because of it's potential magnitude.
What do I mean by The Insignificant Strangers?
Allow me to share my own personal definition and story with you.
I think insignificant strangers are people we encounter that may not necessarily be a big part of our everyday lives. Co-workers, colleagues, bosses, fellow students, friends of friends, regular passersby on streets, and so on. We may not speak with these individuals every day. We don't consider them "close", and we don't share our personal stories with them. However, their we are in their vicinity enough that their actions impact us, whether we realize it or not.
I said that today's post will be different. That was because I am trying to write it from a perspective that isn't my own. I am actually trying to understand this as I go.
A co-worker of mine put this idea in my head. In my new role, I have replaced an individual that worked in that position for several years. Let's call them Bob. Of course, as workplace rumours go, there were tons flying around about why Bob left, the kind of person Bob was, whether Bobwould come back, and so on. And what I found surprising, was that the people who already were working there were quite wary of.. me!
In the time that I worked there and gathered more hearsay about Bob, I found myself thinking that the wariness about Bob was rightfully so. It seemed that people had not been able to have a relationship with Bob in the past. There were clashes in personalities, work ethics, habits, and many other personal and professional aspects. Especially wary were those who worked in close proximity of Bob. When I started, these colleagues within close quarters treated me in a certain way, based on Bob's behaviour, and I had to really differentiate myself to show them that I wasn't Bob.
Soon enough, my co-workers learned that and began to treat me as my own person. They stopped calling me "the new Bob". But it was being treated like Bob that gave me this idea. Unbeknownst to my co-workers and probably even Bob, they had affected each other fairly extensively. Their behaviours, their prejudices, their biases and their instincts were all based on the way they treated each other in the past. But how well did my co-workers and Bob really know each other? My guess would be - not at all! To each other, they were complete strangers who really weren't key characters in one another's lives. Then how did they affect each other so deeply?
I thought it was quite an interesting thought - how many other such "insignificant strangers" do we come across in every day life, who affect us unknowingly and significantly? Do we carry these lessons with us forever? Or do others come along and break these perceptions and prejudices we may have based on one experience we have? I hope that in the time that I'm working here, I break a few negative perceptions and show that not everyone has to be like Bob. I wouldn't want to be judged or compared with someone I didn't know.
But anyway. Grudgingly as it may be, I have to acknowledge these insignificant strangers for the impact they have on our lives. We simply have to be vigilant enough to weed out the prejudice from the actual behaviour. We have to be prepared for completely different personalities as well as absolute replicas. Simply put, we must be able to treat every individual as a separate entity.
That's my thought for the day. See y'all next week!
Hasta la-buh bye!
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