Steve Ramsland's Blog Buckelew Programs

To Be of Use…

Although I majored in English (& Psychology) in college, I have to admit that I don't read a lot of poetry.  But my wife does, and the other night she read me a poem that just floored me.   Written by American poet, novelist, and social activist, Marge Piercy ("Circles on the Water," 1982), "To Be of Use" speaks to me in so many ways about my own experience of work, as well as what I hear from our clients and staff.  Here it is:

To Be of Use, a poem by Marge Piercy

 The people I love the best

jump into work head first

without dallying in the shallows

and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.

They seem to become natives of that element,

the black sleek heads of seals

bouncing like half-submerged balls.

 

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,

who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,

who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,

who do what has to be done, again and again.

 

I want to be with people who submerge

in the task, who go into the fields to harvest

and work in a row and pass the bags along,

who are not parlor generals and field deserters

but move in a common rhythm

when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

 

The work of the world is common as mud.

Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.

But the thing worth doing well done

has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.

Greek amphoras for wine or oil,

Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums

but you know they were made to be used.

The pitcher cries for water to carry

and a person for work that is real.

Wow!

My doctoral dissertation was on the experience of "flow" in the workplace, those moments in time when you're fully focused and absorbed in your work.  Tools are ready to hand, time passes in a flash, and you find yourself performing to the best of your abilities.  These are transcendent moments, and yet they're available to all of us, in everyday work experiences.  With just the right balance of skills and challenges we're all able to harness ourselves, pull like water buffalo and submerge in the tasks of life. 

A client/trainee in one of our social enterprises wrote to us of his recent experience at work.  Previously disconnected from the workforce with issues of depression and low self esteem, he wrote of how his work with Buckelew helped him to acquire new skills, find what he does well and, in his words "work at my own capacity, and challenged a bit to go further as well.  This made the time at the cafe move quickly as I was able to enjoy the responsibilities given to me and work with others at the same time.  I come away from this feeling more confident in myself and ready to face more challenging situations.  This is a vast improvement over where I had started 4 months ago...I am thrilled that I had a chance to 'show my stuff'."  What a wonderful example  of a supported, social enterprise experience helping a person with mental health challenges to advance his wellbeing and feel what it's like "to be of use."   "The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real."