The Most Important Question!

I present here an anecdote I read long ago in some newspaper. So I can’t quote the exact source here [poor memory! You’ll say…but that was really a long time ago :) ]. But the message I wish to convey is loud and clear in the following lines itself. So here it goes:

During my second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

"Absolutely," said the professor. "In your careers you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello".

I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

I know all of you must have started recalling the names of such persons at your workplace or school, college or university…that will be a good exercise, so carry on with that! Ever wonder: when we attend a function and notice how beautifully the place is decorated, we congratulate the hosts. Did you realize who the real heroes behind that success are? No it is not the interior decorator or the florist but the workers who did their job impeccably. So give it a thought next you see some such thing!

Indeed, it often happens that someone important, who is behind the success that is there for all to see, is often unseen and unknown – the most uncelebrated one. This life of obscurity is sometimes by choice but more often due to the fact that they never receive credit for their services. They remain the unsung heroes, no songs are sung for them, no tributes paid and no buildings dedicated to their memory…but they stay there, unseen, unknown just as the silent music that is there to add to the beauty but falls on deaf ears (here, refers to the ungrateful human beings!).