Poppet
Active Member
Yesterday my fiance and I partook in one of the search parties for the missing girl from Charlottesville, VA. I don't know if any of you have heard about this case but it's been in the news in the states and I know it's been on the Daily Mail (UK news) several times...
This happened in my area, so it's quite disturbing to me.
Anyway, what I wanted to talk about was the searching. We didn't find anything, but I felt like a small asset to my search party team because of my amazing sense of smell, attention to detail, thoroughness, non-squeamishness, and lack of interest in socializing. I just wanted to get the job done PERFECTLY.
I know we didn't find anything (because there was nothing to find where we were assigned), but it was nice to feel that my skills were being put to use in a really positive and helpful way. It felt good to shake the sheriff's hand at the end of the day and be thanked for my efforts... Genuinely appreciated.
I feel like so often people like me (I'm assuming here, since I don't even know anyone like me in real life!) get overlooked for their real skills. All the skills I listed off are usually not appreciated in retail, minimum wage jobs, jobs where you're basically there to follow commands but also deal with a lot of social cues that we inevitably miss, and that's what you're chastised for. I've always been the worker that would clean and organize the entire workspace only to be yelled at because I hadn't had a chipper enough attitude towards a customer, or because I didn't just sit around at my post despite there being nothing to attend to. I never understood that about jobs... And I never understood why my skills (which ARE skills) were so unappreciated.
At that search party I felt like my skills were exactly what was needed. I was still looking at everything we passed as we drove back home, just in case...
Anyway. I guess I just wanted to point out that we might not always feel appreciated or understood in the common places of life. But we do have unique gifts and skills that other people just don't. And I think that's worth being proud of.
This happened in my area, so it's quite disturbing to me.
Anyway, what I wanted to talk about was the searching. We didn't find anything, but I felt like a small asset to my search party team because of my amazing sense of smell, attention to detail, thoroughness, non-squeamishness, and lack of interest in socializing. I just wanted to get the job done PERFECTLY.
I know we didn't find anything (because there was nothing to find where we were assigned), but it was nice to feel that my skills were being put to use in a really positive and helpful way. It felt good to shake the sheriff's hand at the end of the day and be thanked for my efforts... Genuinely appreciated.
I feel like so often people like me (I'm assuming here, since I don't even know anyone like me in real life!) get overlooked for their real skills. All the skills I listed off are usually not appreciated in retail, minimum wage jobs, jobs where you're basically there to follow commands but also deal with a lot of social cues that we inevitably miss, and that's what you're chastised for. I've always been the worker that would clean and organize the entire workspace only to be yelled at because I hadn't had a chipper enough attitude towards a customer, or because I didn't just sit around at my post despite there being nothing to attend to. I never understood that about jobs... And I never understood why my skills (which ARE skills) were so unappreciated.
At that search party I felt like my skills were exactly what was needed. I was still looking at everything we passed as we drove back home, just in case...
Anyway. I guess I just wanted to point out that we might not always feel appreciated or understood in the common places of life. But we do have unique gifts and skills that other people just don't. And I think that's worth being proud of.
