For Wilshire Baptist Church
While our associate pastor is away on sabbatical, our pastoral residents are taking turns performing many of his tasks, including processing and posting these weekly blog submissions. I’m thinking this is a great opportunity for the residents to fill up on new experiences while they’re filling in — as it was for me in the summer of 1980 when I was an intern at the Sherman Democrat newspaper.
For most of that summer I was a reporter and writer, thrown fully into the mix of daily assignments: high school commencement, a record heatwave, courthouse trials, grass fires, tractor pulls, and general interest news and features about life in Grayson County. I hit the ground running and ran hard all summer.
For two weeks, however, I was tied to a desk. I was tasked with filling in for the editor of the society section while she was on vacation. That section covered a lot of the lighter news, and the job mostly entailed processing syndicated features and columns as well as fluffing up announcements about clubs and cultural events. Part of the job — the most treacherous part — was editing and laying out the weekend engagement, wedding and golden anniversary announcements. No stress there, huh, making sure all the brides’ photos were paired up with the correct write-ups and everyone was identified accurately? Along the way I got a crash course in newspaper layout, including estimating column inches, sizing photos, writing headlines and cut lines. My tools were a pica pole and a proportional scale.
I don’t recall my reaction when given that interim assignment, but it wasn’t what I had signed up for. On the other hand, being trusted like a real reporter was more than I expected, so a couple of weeks of desk work was worth the tradeoff. Besides that, I learned more than I ever imagined.
I confirmed that I didn’t want to cover society news, no offense to those who do, and that I didn’t want to be a copy or layout editor. I wanted to be a reporter and writer and gladly leave the editing and page design to the folks who enjoy doing that, and frankly, are better at it. But while I didn’t want to do those things, I gained valuable knowledge about layout and design that has helped me throughout my career. More than that, I gained an appreciation for the people who do those things full time. They are the ones who work later than the writers, fix their mistakes, and ultimately make them look good.
That summer newspaper job wasn’t the first time I learned from doing something that wasn’t my calling. I learned that I didn’t want to be a cook, or a cowboy, or a guy who unloads chicken trucks, or a delivery man, or a plumber or a handyman. I also learned that I didn’t want to be anybody else’s boss. But, I have plenty of respect for the people who do those things and especially those who do them well.
It’s a good thing, this business of spending time in someone else’s shoes or at someone else’s desk, seeing the world from their perspective, seeing how you measure up. It engenders respect and appreciation for what they do. It fosters compassion and even empathy for the load they carry. And in my case, working at the copy desk promoted humility and a striving for excellence, because knowing that someone else is going to have to slog through my words has helped me work harder to make sure I turn in my best effort.
So, some words of advice for anyone who is filling in for someone: Drink in this time and learn as much as you can. It will make you a better colleague and team member. It may provide skills that you’ll always have in your back pocket. More than that, it may add to your insight and discernment about what you really want to do, and with that, who you really want to be.