Friday, December 16, 2011

A day in life

My niece Lala offered an apology in response to my query why she had not been responding to my emails lately. I had asked her if she was angry either with me or my wife and demanded that she should tell me why. "Sorry if I gave you an impression that I am angry because I failed to respond. I am not upset. Things are just crazier in the office nowadays. My responsibilities got greater and my rest lesser," she emailed back.
My niece, who we fondly call Darling, has just been promoted to assistant manager in a multinational bank with branch offices in Metro Manila. We have always treated her and her two siblings like our own children. She calls me Dad and my wife Mom. "Dad I am asking for more understanding now that I am in a new phase of my career. It's not easy. I hate (office) politics and there's more of it now. But I have to dance to the tune to stay in the game," she wrote.
I felt a mixture of guilt and pity while I read her email at the office. I hate office politics myself and that's the primary reason why I have never aspired for a higher position since I became a subeditor with Today newspaper in Manila in 1995. I am contented editing articles for the pages I handle and then putting the pages to bed in my small corner of the newsroom. A higher position would mean handling people. I have no grit for that. I am soft.
I know there are people who thrive in office politics, specially those who are young and who find it to be part of the challenges in our quest to get ahead in life. I find it stressful, primarily because I have a  weak personality. But I know that even people with stout heart and steel nerves can succumb to stress that goes along with the hurried and harried life in the corporate world where stress becomes greater as you rise higher.
After reading her email, I emailed her back as quickly as I could, offering my own apology for adding to her worries and giving an assurance that I fully understood her and that we love her. There was no time to write a long response. There was no time either to linger in a fleeting memory of green meadows and bright stars in a clear sky which I used to see when I was young. I had to buckle down to work to meet my deadline.

2 comments:

  1. ... success is not always defined as having reached the top of your career but being happy and satisfied with what you have achieved!

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  2. success is not a place to go as happiness is too you may find it along the way in your day to day work.

    ReplyDelete