Two buffalo were roaming the prairie when suddenly one of them stopped and said, “Shhh.
“What’s wrong?” the other buffalo asked.
“I thought I heard a discouraging word.”

While most days I love my job and a few days I don’t, it was reinforced for me how fortunate I am to make a living the way I do.  We just returned from a nice vacation to several islands in the Caribbean.  On one of the islands, we settled in to a beautiful beach.  A man came along with a dilapidated briefcase full of necklaces and other trinkets to sell.  He said, “Welcome to my office.”  I told him this was a better view than I have in my office, which began a conversation with Sunny (by the way, my kids say I would start a conversation with a tree).

Sunny has worked in this office for many years and will turn 60 years old next week.  He cares for his mother who has dementia and has a son who stays with her during “office hours.”  He told me he loves working with his hands, creating art, and designing new pieces of jewelry.  He loves to stay active and showed us how he creates earrings to match any necklace.  He believes God rewards him when he stays busy and the devil creeps in when he is idle. This is his only source of income.

I asked Sunny how he is treated by people.  He said most are friendly, but he just wants people to say hello even if they don’t want to buy anything.  Many won’t acknowledge he exists.

He reminds me of so many other people I’ve met who work hard and believe they have something to offer.  Every day Sunny shows up for work and he may or may not get paid and it is my understanding there is not much of a 401K plan in sales from worn briefcases.

So I’ll try to have no discouraging words about my job.  Even if the view from the office is pine trees and dead grass.