Friday, November 7, 2008

A Neat Job

I have a problem with scale. Not with the size of the world itself, really, but with the number of people who live and the number of things which occur upon it. I probably see a few hundred people a day between home and work, and I tend not to think much beyond them. I see lawyers and secretaries and store clerks and bus drivers and stuff, and unless I stop to actually think about it, I ignore or forget that there are people actually doing interesting, or at least different things with their lives.

The downside of my narrow vision is that I'm missing out on most of the great big world. The only upside? Whenever I hear about some neat thing someone does with their time, I'm rather excited by it. For example, take ex-outfielder Darryl Hamilton. He works in the Commissioner's office, doing something that I've never really thought about:

Hamilton, an outfielder who played for five major league teams, including the Mets, is baseball’s senior specialist for on-field operations. Part of his job is fairly traditional and requires reviewing on-field brawls and doling out fines and suspensions to players, coaches, managers and even umpires.

The other part is a little unusual. It requires him to scrutinize the advertisements and other signage that dot outfield walls and the stands in baseball’s 30 stadiums to ensure that they do not hamper the ability of players and umpires to track the ball. It is one of those jobs that, done correctly, goes unnoticed.

I'm tempted to ask about what else in this great big world goes unnoticed, but any answer would negate the premise of the question.

4 comments:

Crowhop said...

No clue why, but this reminded me of the scene from Shawshank...
I mean, seriously, how often do you really look at a man's shoes?

Anonymous said...

Last night, while looking up just what it is the White House Chief of Staff does (when he's not a TV character, I mean), I ran across the concept of the "designated survivor." Makes sense, but it never occurred to me before. Seems like a good gig...

Mark S said...

Who inspected the elevator you rode in this morning? What's the name of the crossing guard who kept you child safe today? Who the guy who lost sleep driving the salt truck/plow that keep you and you family safe on the road?

Most of us don't know and will never know however we certainly takes these folks and their acts for granted. That is one reason why I always try to be polite to others, say my pleases and thank-you's on a regular basis and treat others as the fellow human being they are.

This may sound corny to some folks but it's absolutely amazing what positive affect doing the little things in life can have on others and yourself.

Craig Calcaterra said...

Not corny to me, moose. Those are things that I rarely think about, but when I do, man, I'm amazed at how complicated a world we live in, yet how wonderfully everything runs despite it all. People really do rock.