The Little Things
by Michael Sechrist on September 17, 2008 in Features
Since becoming a public servant, my perspective on why service matters has changed. Before going to work for the federal government, I had lofty ideals. After several jobs in Washington, however, many of those ideals were left battered by reality. The work was more challenging than I imagined and more often than not, the rewards harder to attain. Still, public service in part defined me; I was devoted to serving institutions that affected the lives of numerous Americans and the communities in which they lived.
My work had significant consequences; it really mattered. The extent to which it mattered revealed itself during my first year in Washington when one day, I came close to screwing up on the job. After a miscommunication with a superior, I held onto some paperwork I shouldn’t have. Later that day, he informed me that because of what I had done, Ambassador John Negroponte’s nomination to become America’s first Director of National Intelligence would be delayed for two whole weeks.
For the next 45 minutes, I sat alone in my office contemplating rosy scenarios, like being fired and seeing my name in The Drudge Report. I envisioned the 9/11 Commission excoriating the President for not nominating a DNI sooner, and the President, in turn, blasting me at a news conference somewhere, crushing my reputation for at least a few good years to come.
The experience taught me that public service, however trivial it can sometime seem, matters a lot. It’s part of a greater whole. When the cog you work on breaks down, the entire wheel could fall off. It’s like the butterfly effect in chaos theory – public work has impact, across the country, and often times, around the world. Through public service, we make a significant difference, for better or for worse.
As it turned out, the difference I made that day ended for the better. Miraculously, the Senate stayed open a few more hours, allowing the nomination paperwork to reach the floor. My superior apologized to me and, thankfully, I lived to serve another day.
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Drudge Report?? The President blasting you at a news conference??
Wow.
It’s almost cute that a drone, a bee, a slave, oh I apologize, “public servant” believes his administrative foul-up could result in such a public backlash. And I wouldn’t be so quick to defend this grand “wheel” of which you speak, (within which you play an infinitely small role in an equally insignificant cog) because if late paperwork (what a joke) is going to result in the two-week delay of a nomination for a position of such importance, then perhaps the imaginary computer which controls the robotic “wheel” is spinning it in the wrong direction.
So the question becomes, when the wheel falls off and is replaced by one of flawless craftsmanship, where does that leave someone like yourself? Take your time slave, you don’t have to answer immediately…