Today, as our annual review time is coming up at work, I began to think about a favorite quote of mine. You see, for our review, we’re required to write up all of our accomplishments for the previous year and present them to our supervisor. I have a relatively short list of accomplishments because a great many of them have required a large amount of time to complete.
But most importantly, my job has required of me a very vast number of skills. It has been necessary to be able to work with a great number of people with extremely varied backgrounds, specializations, and to get them all to work in some kind of cohesive mix on each project.
And each time I write down a new project that I’ve worked on or had to be involved with, I think of the following quote:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Now, with the exception of being able to command a ship, I’m reasonably sure I can do, or have done, everything on this list. In a way, it makes me feel sure of who I’ve become as a person and, in other ways, it makes me wonder what other skills I should strive to acquire next. I’ve always said that I feel like I’ve led a pretty balanced life, with experience on the city end of the spectrum, the country and farming aspects, and pretty much everything in between.
Simply going through this list, I can honestly say that:
I have and can change a diaper, but I haven’t had to plan an invasion. I’m reasonably sure that I could. I have a pretty decent understanding of the importance of geography during an attack, the history between famous battles and what made and broke them, the importance of surprise and the ability to inspire people to perform.
I have and can butcher a hog (and a chicken, a turkey, a rabbit, a cow, a deer, and any number of barnyard animals). I haven’t had to, nor am I sure I could command a ship. I have designed a building several years ago, and it was used as part of an estimate for a construction company. I have written a sonnet, and actually, I write poetry quite often.
I balance my accounts regularly, I have built a wall, I’ve set a bone, and I’ve comforted the dying on several occasions.
I have given and taken orders, cooperated with others and acted alone when needed. I’ve solve complex equations and analyzed new problems as they arose. I’ve pitched manure and programmed (many) computers, cooked tasty meals and fought efficiently when needed.
I suppose all I need to do is die gallantly and command a ship and I have this list completed.