Don't be the sweeper

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well'.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

The sweeper obliged, shining streets all day long. “Brilliant worker, that sweeper,” the ministers remarked. Like Michelangelo’s paintings and Beethoven’s music, the city prided itself on the streets so clean. Blessed is this country to have such streets, they said. Seasons changed, autumn was tough, but couldn’t deter the sweeper’s perseverance – the worker that he was.

Spring arrived. Something changed. It was time for promotion. The sweeper had done his job well, all of last year. “Now, I shall be asked to tidy the palace walls. Much respect awaits,” he gloated. The sacrifices made were many, but all’s well that ends well, they say. He smiled, sweeping the streets with renewed vigor.

Behind the palace walls, the ministers sat, pondering. “Promote him? Yes. But…” one of them argued. “Then who will sweep the streets so clean?” Appoint another sweeper, someone suggested. “Ha, easier said than done,” pat came the rebuttal. “The sweeper is the best this city has seen in decades! Don’t forget, a job that hard isn’t a coveted one either. Her Majesty is used to spending her evenings walking barefoot. No other sweeper would do justice to her expectations.”

The decision was swayed against the hard-working sweeper. “Only till a sweeper as good comes by,” the ministers assured. Spring went by. The committed sweeper continued to brave the weather, shining the streets while the less-talented lazily rubbed the palace walls. Till one day, disillusioned, disheartened, he quit. The stories of the sweeper’s perseverance, who traveled to a faraway land, kept trickling in amidst filthy streets. And once again, the hosts of heaven and earth paused to say, ‘Tsk tsk. Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well’.