Recently I watched a rerun of an episode of Top Gear on SABC 3. They had a challenge between Jeremy, driving the (then) new Audi RS4, and a speed climber, who's name escapes me right now. Essentially, the speed climber had to climb a 1200ft vertical rock face, while Jeremy had to drive the RS4 60 miles around a twisty mountain pass to the finish line and the winner would be the one to reach the top first...of course.
Most people thought the car wold be a definite winner, but the speed climber ended up beating the car to the top by approximately 8 minutes.
However, even though the speed climber managed to scramble up the rock face using only his fingers and toes to find the most improbable hand and foot holds in the seeming sheer rock face, what really struck me was the guy following and supporting him.
He would follow a couple of meters behind, providing moral support all the way, while making sure he never let go of the safety rope he had in his hands. The support climber was doing everything the main dude was doing, except that he was never in the limelight. You heard him shouting encouragement in the background and you occasionally got a glimpse of him when the camera angle was right. Other than that, the only guy who got the credit was the guy in front.
Made me think of a number of different situations in life where people are "slaving" away in the background to make something work, but they never get the credit for this. As an example, I was thinking of the recent Impala Rally where many people were working behind the scenes, while only Simon gets the credit for organising a great event.
I know. I know. It's the way the cookie crumbles and all that, but there needs to be some spokesperson for the "little guys" (and ladies, of course!) backstage.
A word that popped into my head, was "Dedication". The Free Dictionary (www.thefreedictionary.com) defines dedication as: "Selfless devotion", which really describes all these "behind-the-scenes" people, who spend their time and energy making sure everyone else gets the enjoyment and success out of events, even though they seem to be getting no credit or thanks themselves.
Now, before you go off about how some people get paid to do this job and it is their choice to be in the background and all that...I know that too. Just thought about it and thought I'd let you know that I thought about it. Ok?
Then I also thought of a book I read a while ago called "The five Love Languages" (by Gary R Chapkin, or Chapman) and I realised that there are people out there who actually enjoy doing things for others. Me? Of course I'm not like that 100% of the day!
I enjoy being in the limelight...as you no doubt realise by the fact that I've got a blog and a newsletter and participate in a number of other activities which require my presence in the light of lime...However, there are times when I enjoy helping people too...These times are just few and far between and they generally require some form of recognition at the end, otherwise I feel like nobody noticed! :-)
Additional to all these thoughts, I was also thinking of all the times in my life when I've had a team of people around me to help me look good...and I realised that my success is owed to a number of people that have been diligently working behind the scenes to support me and help make me who I am today.
Quite a sobering thought. Specially when you start thinking YOU are the main man/woman/person...
No comments:
Post a Comment