“If it falls to your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music … Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”
dr. martin luther king, jr.
on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, i share the quote i hold very close. during my in-office decades, i printed it and hung it on my cubicle wall.
i am likely not dr. king’s intended audience. when these words moved through him, he was likely envisioning his oppressed brothers and sisters, forced to hard labor and the work of the unseen. he likely sought and found these words to elevate them in a world rife with racial bias and inequality.
no, he likely did not imagine that a young white woman in an office cubicle would read his words every single day.
but i did and still do.
the words keep me connected to my immigrant parents, their humble beginnings and rebeginnings as honorable as any other. they keep me grounded on days when i think i am built for something better than the task at hand. and they keep me grateful for the people among us who labor.
there is greatness within us and greatness all around us. may we find ways to elevate each other this fine day.
s
Light of Day Coaching LLC 