“Who cares anyway?”
Need an antidote to apathy? Read on . . .
Have you ever worked on something so hard, just to have it go unnoticed? I have! Many times as a special needs parent, housewife, and also in my career as a registered nurse, much of the details of the work are unseen and unrewarded. It’s unfortunate that society places more importance on flashy success rather than the quiet victories of a hidden life. Yet if the “hidden workers” of the world were to suddenly cease working, society would stop dead in its tracks.
The injustice of being unappreciated can lead us “hidden workers” to wonder what’s the point if no one cares? But if we focus on this injustice too long, bitterness can begin to settle and harden our hearts. As a result, our hidden work begins to slowly unravel, as we cut corners in protestation, justifying ourselves with the inner slogan “who cares anyway?!”
The truth is no matter how unappreciated, underpaid, unrewarded you feel, everything you do matters! Yup, that’s right. EVERYTHING. Elizabeth Leseur*, a Catholic 20th century saint, said it best: “Every human being is an incalculable force, bearing within him something of the future. To the end of time, our daily words and actions will bear fruit, either good or bad; nothing that we have once given of ourselves will perish, but our words and works, handed on from one to another, will continue to do good or harm to remote generations . . . “
Whether someone is watching or not, your actions matter, very much!Recently, in my own life, I have wondered if my presence at home really matters. We have a lovely nurse who now does a lot of the everyday caregiving Caiden requires. She has freed up my time to cook, clean and pursue coaching and blogging. But a secret part of me has felt “not enough” because I no longer produce a paycheck. Then Caiden got sick, really sick. My presence was suddenly required. What’s more, the observations of a keen momma’s eye may have kept Caiden out of the hospital. The time spent at home being present made all the difference.
So instead of slipping into an attitude apathy, why not try enthusiasm for the little things—the details that do matter and make the world go round!
Ask yourself: what might have happened if you had not been there? If you suddenly stopped doing the hidden work, who or what might suffer? Could you raise your awareness to the eternal? How might your small actions create a domino effect of repercussions lasting for generations to come?—think George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life or the Butterfly Effect Theory. And how might your actions matter to God?
“ . . . This is why life is a sacred thing, and we ought not to pass through it thoughtlessly, but to appreciate its value and use it so that, when we are gone, the sum total of good in the world may be greater.”—Elizabeth Leseur
*Elizabeth Leseur was a house wife, who lived much of her life sick in bed. Yet her quiet life produced a journal of spiritual insights, that would later transform the life of her widowed husband and many others. Her cause for canonization continues. https://www.google.com/amp/s/aleteia.org/2014/10/04/divorce-proof-your-marriage-by-emulating-servant-of-god-elisabeth-leseur/amp