Work and Life: Servant and Master :: Courage Relationships Papers

Work and Life: Servant and Master Waiting for a friend on the Upper East Side on an unusually fair day, an endearing sight caught my eye. Two adults were carrying a baby in a stroller up the steps of the Met. Besides the parents, there were other adults in the group accompanying the infant like bodyguards to a celebrity. I marveled at this entourage of relative giants huddled around this tiny being, servants lifting the sedan of a little emperor off to view the fruits of his court painters. Without his parents’ care, this frail and helpless creature would essentially perish as fast as he would fall if they suddenly decided to drop his stroller, yet he also had so much power over their lives—power derived not from coercion or election but simply from being born. And even though he was small and weak, they gave their services unconditionally. Growing up in a power-driven individualistic country such as America, it intrigues me how in many ways, we can never escape being servants in our lives even though we think we live in a culture focused on individual freedom and the power of one. It is amazing that we serve bosses who pay us and also serve small children who offer no material reward. The parents managed to balance that stroller so easily between the two of them, never letting it tilt, their little sovereign always in constant peaceful motion, but I wondered if it was just as easy for them to balance their services to home and work. I soon realized that this sun-drenched day was only one out of seven. At some point later in the week, his Little Majesty would be handed over to a nanny or daycare center. His parents would then rush off to office buildings many times as spacious as the world’s biggest nursery, and they would answer to supervisors whose one look of disapproval could cause more damage than a whole night of the little boy’s wailing and whining. Someday, I thought, I would probably have both bosses too, for whom, in different ways, I would work and serve. In order to provide for my family and children, I would have to appease bosses and clients. On a day-to-day basis, it would seem that I was perpetually going from service to service. That made me wonder whether I really have choice and power over my own life, or whether I will merely be a