"I try to be a completely different person at home than I am at work."
These are words that someone spoke to me the other day. They didn't bother me at first. This person has a job in a high stress, low morals field. It's easy to get caught up in what you see and hear around you every day. Not everyone is "like me." I get that.
What bothers me, though, is that idea of being two different people, one at home and one at work. I wonder how many of us do that. I've worked in the public all my adult life, until a year ago. I know there are days when you are tired or grouchy or things are not going well at home...or work...and you just have to put on a "brave" face and go about your business. You have to leave your work at work and your home at home (as much as possible). Everybody...EVERYBODY...has bad days.
What I don't I understand is this notion that we can actually BE two different people. That we can go about life and totally compartmentalize our circumstances. And that we'd WANT to!
Me? I want to be the same person. I want to be the same person whether I'm alone in a room or out in a crowd, whether I'm at church or "work" or just here at home with my own family. I want to be the same person when I'm on vacation as I am when I'm in "reality." I strive for that! I won't begin to say I'm good at it, but it's certainly my goal!
I'm left contemplating integrity. Have we lost sight of it? Has our culture become so "ope-minded" that we've lost the desire to be who and what we really are, no matter our surroundings?
These are words that someone spoke to me the other day. They didn't bother me at first. This person has a job in a high stress, low morals field. It's easy to get caught up in what you see and hear around you every day. Not everyone is "like me." I get that.
What bothers me, though, is that idea of being two different people, one at home and one at work. I wonder how many of us do that. I've worked in the public all my adult life, until a year ago. I know there are days when you are tired or grouchy or things are not going well at home...or work...and you just have to put on a "brave" face and go about your business. You have to leave your work at work and your home at home (as much as possible). Everybody...EVERYBODY...has bad days.
What I don't I understand is this notion that we can actually BE two different people. That we can go about life and totally compartmentalize our circumstances. And that we'd WANT to!
Me? I want to be the same person. I want to be the same person whether I'm alone in a room or out in a crowd, whether I'm at church or "work" or just here at home with my own family. I want to be the same person when I'm on vacation as I am when I'm in "reality." I strive for that! I won't begin to say I'm good at it, but it's certainly my goal!
I'm left contemplating integrity. Have we lost sight of it? Has our culture become so "ope-minded" that we've lost the desire to be who and what we really are, no matter our surroundings?
