I Matter

I am really enjoying a speech I am reading by Indira Gandhi.  I have just read something she said that resounds big time in me.
She said, “there is no job that is too small; there is no person who is too small.”  To highlight this, she alluded to a big complicated piece of machinery.  She pointed out that if there is one small screw that is not right, the whole thing can come grinding to a holt.  She also highlighted how cleaning was seen to be beneath some, yet manure is now seen to be so important the world over.
I unfortunately saw the truth of this with the space shuttle that disintegrated.  All seven crew members died.  Was it the engine?  Was it the fuel?  No, a piece of foam insulation came off.  A small thing caused a catastrophe.
It has sort of been a mantra for me that every job and every person matters.  From the highest in the land to the lowest.  It is true in companies and it is true in families.  Few things sadden me more than to hear someone denigrating themselves.  I need to aspire, but I don’t need to belittle.  Including me.
I am an important cog.  I am needed.  What I do, may not be out there and on public display, but when I fail, the machinery can come to a grinding holt.  I may want to be the face of the company, or the catalyst of new ideas, but my job of making sure the screw is in right is really important.  When I don’t do my job right, everyone can be left with egg on their face (that would be especially true if I were a chicken farmer.)
I may not be seen as important as the top dog. I may not be paid as much, and I may not have studied as much, but I cannot be done without.  It may be a misnomer to think I can. 
The boy that put his finger in the crack in the dike, he mattered.  The person that gets up and does stuff when they really do not want to, they matter.  When I encourage someone who needs encouragement, I matter.  When I do everyday stuff, that matters.  So often it is when I don’t feel like doing something, but I do it, how much I matter is felt.  When I don’t do something, often implications are felt down the people line.
Where I used to work, a building needed to be evacuated.  The reason was a worker had accidently cut though a supporting post for the whole building.  That person was not the architect, or the one who would get all the accolades upon the successful completion of the task.  It was a no name someone.  Someone involved in making it happen.  They were essential.  When what they did went wrong, the ramifications were huge.
My role may be unseen, but it is important.  Sometimes it is no more than a grind, and I would prefer to be doing something else.  But when I don’t do it, or don’t do it properly, things can come undone for more than me.  No matter what my role, I matter, and it is important I do what I have to do, as best I can.