I had a temporary, month long stint at a hardware store. In those four weeks, I learned useful things like Makita is the much looked for brand when it came to hardware machineries. Rubicon screwdrivers are the cheapest yet are durable. And that Gold Wall padlocks were the current best in town (many testify to it’s durability in withstanding every thief’s’ best pal—the saw). I also saw things never before seen by my naked eyes. Like the thing that they call brush filters. It certainly doesn’t bear any resemblance to a brush—tooth brush, hair brush, airbrush or whatever brush comes to your mind—instead it has a spring!
Don’t get me wrong, I grew up in a hardware. If there’s the term “army brat” (the child of an army officer or enlisted person, esp. one who has grown up on army bases or in military communities.) then I could be called a “hardware brat.” But I had always been too busy in school, scouting, exams, clubs, writing and projects that I never really noticed the bits and pieces of the hardware life around me.
But this time, I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the nails and angle bars, sand papers and Sandviks, and of course, the people.
I’ll call them the last few good men of the hardware frontier. Because when I walk inside a department store and ask for help in fixing a welding machine, the guys in the stands seldom know what I really need. But these guys knew their craft! They weren’t armed with education, degrees or pedigrees, just a couple of years of hard earned learning and observing experience.
I once saw a man come inside with just a wafer thin, one peso coin sized, hexagonal curiosity (it looked like something that had fallen off a space ship) in hand asking if we knew where to get one of those. And believe it or not, even if it wasn't something common, it was immediately identified by one of the men and an alternative was given to fit in its place.
Another time, one of the men assembled a machine from spare parts around the hardware, including a compressor. It took quite awhile for the assembled machine to be completed but I had a feeling that the customer left satisfied at having a cheap new aircon cleaner plus information (as taught by the “inventor”) on how to use it.Every single little thing had its use! Even a very thin bright red plastic straw, which I tried to dispose of, had not one of the men stopped me saying it was a duct used in oiling squeaky joints.
The information and thoughts running across my corpus callosum—which I cannot quite express—may be summarized by what Helen Keller said, “I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”
I'm telling you all of these because it reminds me of a dream I've always had. I dream of a day when we all might see our jobs as something worth more than just their pay. A day when teachers are no longer just teachers of education but molders of the future; when mothers and housewives will be able to see themselves as builders of our nation; and fathers—more than just providers—but as shapers of our nation's character.

I dream of a day when no one would be persecuted about and judged because of the kind of work that he holds. Instead, that each one be inspired to do the very best in the task he is assigned to do. I dream of a day when we would have the understanding that there are no small tasks, only people who refuse to see the bigness of every work assigned. Am I being too idealistic? I am most certainly not!
It’s not the occupation that makes the person; it’s the person that makes the occupation.
I think of our long-time house help who has been faithful to us as a family since I was three of our long-time house help who has been faithful to us as a family since I was three. And I realize that even if the world doesn't see house help as a profession, I see through her life that it takes a calling to serve a family – not your flesh and blood -- with all that you've got.
So I continue to dream of the day when we all learn to live this way:” I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”