It’s not my job... until it is
How many times have you heard -- or thought to yourself -- “That’s none of my business” or “Nope. I’m not getting involved” or “That’s not my job?”
In this era of hyperconnectedness, there’s little happening on this planet -- or solar system -- that doesn’t affect all of us in some way. I’m not the first to write, “Globally, we’re all connected.”
During the three years of the pandemic, we’ve had seen, or heard of, situations where people suddenly took on life-changing jobs when a need arose. In one case, after a mother and father died within a day of each other, the mother’s niece and nephew took on the responsibility of the two surviving teenagers. The adopting couple had been married for three or four years and had no children o their own.
You have probably heard stories of individuals, when a family member was incarcerated, enrolling in law school to prove the innocence of a parent, sibling or friend. While undertaking earning a law degree, one’s life course definitely changes, but in some cases, the newlyminted attorney wins the release of their family member.
Some of you may remember Longview, Texasborn Karen Silkwood, or perhaps you saw the movie “Silkwood” and know how this young woman made it her job to raise concerns about corporate practices related to health and safety in a nuclear facility.
Employed as a technician at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site (near Crescent, Oklahoma) in 1972, Silkwood’s job was to make fuel rods for nuclear reactors. When she became concerned that corporate practices may be adversely affecting the health of plant workers, she has become a union activist.
When the plant ostensibly fell behind on a major contract for fuel rods, employees were required to work overtime, and when Karen found managers falsifying safety reports, cutting corners and making attempts to cover up shoddy work, she investigated.
Once she’d gathered enough evidence, she contacted a reporter from the New York Times. She was killed in a one-car crash while on her way to meet with the reporter to share incriminating documents that confirmed her allegations. Karen Silkwood was 28. The year -- 1974.
Because of Karen’ concerns about contamination and her efforts as an activist:
The Atomic Energy Commission and the State Medical Examiner requested analysis of Silkwood's organs by the Los Alamos Tissue Analysis Program.
Public suspicions led to a federal investigation into plant security and safety.
National Public Radio reported this investigation found that 44–66 lbs. of plutonium had been misplaced at the plant.
Kerr-McGee closed its nuclear fuel plants in 1975. The Department of Energy (DOE) reported the Cimarron plant as decontaminated and decommissioned in 1994.
Davyon Johnson, a Muskogee, Oklahoma, sixth grader, noticed a classmate choking in the lunchroom. An aspiring EMT, the boy knew the Heimlich Maneuver and applied what he knew to the choking youngster. It wasn’t his job but that sixth grader saved a life during his lunch period.
Later that day, as his mom was driving him home after school, rather than deciding one life saved was enough for one day, this same sixth grader saw it as his job -- when he saw smoke and flames coming from a house -- to run from the car and help an elderly woman, who couldn’t walk down the front steps on her own, saving her from the mounting flames.
According to NPR, reporting this story, the Muskogee Police Department made Davyon Johnson an honorary officer, and the Muskogee school board presented him with an award for heroism.
There are so many incidences about everyday citizens, changing the landscape, saving a life, fighting for protections and the rights of others. Also, think about the citizens who have made it their job to regularly donate blood, pick up trash along our highways, lobby our lawmakers for a better quality of life or volunteer to support our schools. It’s not their job…until it is.
And on a personal note, when my oldest grandson became involved in the JROTC start-up at our high school, the local VFW and American Legion stepped up. While it wasn’t the job of any of these veterans to take my grandson under their wings, they did exactly that. Aside from enlisting the high schoolers in some public service projects to raise funds for the new JROTC group, the veterans also shared the stories of their military careers, provided information about the opportunities they had been given and served as positive role models for the boys and girls active in the fledgling organization.
Thanks to the Dripping Springs veterans, my grandson is a member of this year’s #1 outfit (Company B) in A&M’s Corps of Cadets, on his way to earning his commission in the U.S. Air Force to serve our country. That’s, in large part, due to the time Dripping Springs veterans took to mentor him.
It wasn’t their job…until it was.