Monday's Musing
This is a great little story....
"During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: 'What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?' Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. 'Absolutely,' the professor said. 'In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello.' I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy." - Joann C. Jones
Happy Monday, everyone! Have a great week. :)
"During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: 'What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?' Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. 'Absolutely,' the professor said. 'In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello.' I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy." - Joann C. Jones
Happy Monday, everyone! Have a great week. :)
Labels: Monday's Musing
posted by Romi at 9:02 AM
8 Comments:
Great story.
I have one for you. When I worked at the American Embassy in Moscow, we had quite a few spouses (wives) of diplomats and contractors who did clerical work at the Embassy. One of these was an older woman with a rather sour disposition whom no one liked and most people seemed to avoid. I never paid her much attention; I was a diplomat and worked in a different office. But one day she and I were alone in the ladies' room and I struck up a polite conversation with her.
We ended up talking for an hour, and she told me the most amazing story of her life. One part of it involved her adopted son, who was a street kid in a southeast Asian country when she and her husband (who were posted to the country) took him in after they caught him trying to steal food from their kitchen. They ended up staying in the country for years, trying to formally adopt him. They finally succeeded, took him to the U.S., and put him through college and medical school. He's now a surgeon in Maryland and has saved countless lives himself.
I don't think anyone else at the Embassy ever heard this story, because they never spoke to her. But it made a huge impact on me; you just can't judge a person by appearances.
That is a very important lesson to learn.
Both stories are great!
Thanks for a great reminder of how important the "little guys and girls" are to life. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and kindness and people forget that far too often.
WOW! You & I are on the same wave length today. I just saw a new person in our housekeeping department, remembered this story & thought I need to learn her name.
Now to follow through.
I was just thinking today that I need to ask our housekeeping person's name.
I do talk to her... I know she's taking classes here on her off time and that she is thinking about being a biology major... but I've never asked her name! And a name matters.
Thanks for the noodge.
I have always made it a point to learn every person's name at work. Especially those who clean up after my messes or keep me on schedule by processing my orders. It takes a village to manage patients care. A big village.
I worked with a Romanian housekeeper at work who would lunch with me and compare knitting. She had been a pharmacist in her home country but worked cleaning patient rooms in this country. That's humbling.
Great post Romi.
Thanks for the story. I recently spent 17 days staying with my 84 year old Mother in the hospital during several surgeries. I sent a "thank you" letter to the VP of Operations and Head of Nursing naming all of Mother's RNs, CNAs and the housekeeping lady because they ALL were wonderful. And yes, getting to know them all was a great experience for me.
I LOVE it!!!
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