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Just imagine that you are an expert in marbles, yes marbles. Imagine that you have spent years studying them meticulously; history, designs, types, colors, composition, games; and your obsession for them had driven you to commit your life’s efforts to work with them entirely.
Imagine a respectable, well paid position to work with marbles is advertised, and you give it a try; and obviously, you get it because you out perform all of the applicants. As after all, you are a marble genius. You confirm what you knew already; which is that it is not about the marble, but what it means to have one and how to treat it.
And in your first day of work, you are taken to your work area, where the door is opened for you to find a gigantic never-ceasing machine moving marvels in all directions, with riles, lifters, belts, automatic shovels, tubes, funnels; loading and unloading containers that go through different levels, pipes, baskets and tunnels.
To add on to your amazement, the entire structure is hanging on such an uneven scaffold, that it seems to have been reconfigured and patched up a thousand times during hundreds of years. Some parts of the structure are built with titanium, while others are made of cheap cardstock. Some junctions have been welded with led, and others just depend on a needle. Some pipes are resting on iron hangers, while others are hanging on aged rubber bands. Some levels have lights, and others don’t. Some pipes’ trajectories are well defined, while others have no end, or go behind the structure.
But you are fighter, and you take on the challenge. With a positive attitude, you start strong and assess the situation. As an expert, you figure out the situation of the marbles and you come to the conclusion that they will be fine after you deal with the real problem; which is the huge machine, and even more, the structure.
Soon you picture the ideal, shining colorful marbles. You propose a vision, and your assessment is scary enough to build a sense of urgency within the company. Many managers show you support, and add on to your keen observations; others make fun of you; either because they don’t believe you; don’t understand you; have not time; or simply just don’t care. After all, they are experts too, and you are, ‘the new kid on the block’.
You redouble efforts on your quest. Suddenly, you get a memo reminding you of your work duties, and the specific obligations you have to achieve within the year; all of which are about the control of marbles in motion and any troubleshooting required. Since then, you have been killing yourself just by keeping the marbles running; drawn with ‘quick fix’ requests, and with a deficit on resources to patch, clean, clear, adjust, and oil the marbles' way.
Once in a while sections of the structure collapse, but somehow you keep it on going. However, you grow tired, and luckily, when you are about to give up, help comes your way: The company asks you to train the ‘new kid on the block’ , who by the way, tells you that the real problem is on the room holding the structure.
You come to understand that this is not your dream job, and this is not what you pictured of working with marbles. Though you have the freedom to choose between leaving your job; accepting the way it is; or change, it as best as you can do right now…one marble at a time.
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Writer Profile
Cardenas
An Ecuadorian & US citizen, who has worked with community based organizations all his life.
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