Blessed are the meek

This is an article that I wrote exactly two months ago. I believed that I was going to get a dotcom site, and I had begun preparing articles for it. This is the third article that I wrote, and I thought it would be nice to post it for my April entry. Peace.

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Today I came to an important understanding in Christ’s words. While I understand that his beatitudes were to inspire and uplift, I now realize that the “have-nots” really are the inheritors of the earth. While meek does not mean poor, it does mean to be soft and gentle, and that is why this type does not usually make it big in the cut-throat world of industry. Ergo, the meek can easily get left behind in this world of commerce.

I have been working at a big department store, and it has turned my world view upside down. It has been an invaluable experience, because it has made me a better person. I can peacefully work with all sorts of personalities now, I am better in customer service than I have ever been (which is a talent in itself), I have grown in patience, because I have learnt that even the most annoying and mundane tasks can actually be beneficial to me and my time,  I dispelled a lot of my social fears and anxieties, I cultivated a discipline that earned me a fast track through the ranks, but most importantly, it connected me to life in a way that I deep down always wanted, but was too proud to take on.

I managed to stay where I have been the past year and a half, because of my co-workers, and even the managers. I love the camaraderie, and that feeling of unity has been the bright spot in my days. It doesn't matter what is going on in my body or mind when I get into work: the moment I see a peer, all is right in my world again. We find ways to survive, because the store is the epitome of capitalism, with its gilded floors and ceilings, overpriced merchandise for the credit card holders, and yet neglect, filth, and scarcity behind the curtains. I would often think to myself, why should I have a way out? What about the immigrants, the uneducated, the full-timers who are pushing into their second or even third decade, with very little benefits? I began to see the greedy, self-entitlement of the consumer, and the exhaustion of the worker, and the unrealistic expectations that are placed on us, when the boss is in a different country who tell us to do something, and then puts pressure on us to amend it.

So I began to identify less with my co-workers. I could not understand how they could work in such trying conditions, and I began to plan my way out. After speaking with a (rational) engineer though, I came to realize that, while it is easy to slip through the cracks in a big corporation, these jobs are in fact needed: they are therefore important, and there are valuable workers to heed the call. While a sales associate will not make the same salary as an administrator or manager, for example, we all have a right, regardless of our line of work or education, to have a sustainable income. We all have the right to clean and safe environments. Ultimately, this job has made me a socialist.

Today, this job has also helped me to understand part of what Jesus meant in his Sermon on the Mount. As the store continues to grow in capitalism, more high-end labels are coming in, and they are coming in on their own accord. The worker and the customer are in danger of getting left behind. The licencees have their own workers, and these workers either think they are in the class of the customer, or maybe they just never really grew up. I am now the only non-licencee working in this back area of the floor, which has seemed to make me vulnerable. The silent drama that I have experienced the past few days with them has been unlike anything I have ever experienced. Not even in elementary school have I been ostracized in this way. I have never witnessed such a vicious takeover. While the rejection lasted but a couple of weeks, after a licencee who remained neutral interceded on my behalf, it was an incredible lesson.

Now I know what Jesus really meant. The meek stick together. We form bonds, and we lift each other up, whereas the proud hurt each other, and step on the toes of their fellows. The meek ask each other how they are doing, but the proud ask each other what they are doing. The meek support and cover each other; the proud are distant and absorbed. The meek turn away from complaining; the proud feel it’s obligatory to complain. The meek are tired and weary; the proud are wired and looking to impress. The meek inspire and offer advice; the proud doubt and confuse. The meek are the ones who will show their faces when you are hurting; the proud are the ones who will look away.

This is why the meek are blessed, this is why we are happy even in our destitution, and this is how we keep going. God adores the meek, and prepares us a room in his mansion, and so, we need not be concerned about having one ourselves. We have already inherited the earth, so now we just want to make sure our guests feel comfortable.