The Waiter: Tyler

My great-aunt and I had lunch at a lakeside restaurant early this afternoon. It was a beautiful scene with delectable food. Our waiter, Tyler, was a college student studying business and psychology, as we would learn throughout the course of the meal. What we struck me as odd was not the fact that he was a waiter, for indeed this job was likely contributing to his continuing education. It was odd however how slowly and hesitantly he answered my aunt’s inquiries about his life. There are a few plausible explanations.

Tyler may have been a paranoid man worried about privacy and the fear of an 80-year-old woman stalking him. Let’s face it, this clearly is not a viable explanation. He may have had a bad morning and did not want to answer any questions about himself, which is possible, but unlikely since he had a clear smile and disposition about the beautiful day. The most likely explanation is this: Tyler compartmentalizes his life. When he’s at work, he’s at work. When he’s not at work, he’s living. Life and work don’t mix. There also may be a hint of the American way of keeping to oneself without vulnerability to only halfheartedly invest in people, but that’s for another discussion.

Tyler is not the only one to live this way. All too often, when we are working, we are working for the monetary gain, experience, or the like. We fail to include our job as a part of our life; either that or to the other extreme, we make our job our life. Perhaps this is due to the mentality while on the job: I am just an employee doing my job. However, this is an illogical way to work. No matter what setting, work, play, or school, I must live as an integrated person: a Christian, Hoosier, college student, employee, brother, son, friend, and on and on. To separate any part of who I am from the other would be to lessen my creation and worth.

Tomorrow morning, I will start a new job for the summer. Many college students will work the summer months only to return to “life” in the evenings or in the fall. I hope that I can work this summer realizing that wherever I am, whatever I am doing, that is the life that God has called me to live and I must utilize all of who I am at every moment, not solely for monetary gain or experience. My life is that which has been graciously given to me by the Father and whatever seed I’ve received, I must sow in the present, for the thought of tomorrow is a transient and earthly gain, not one set on things above.