I watched as a landscaper finished off their work at the building next door which entailed using a leaf-blower to ‘clean’ the parking lot.
It took the landscaper about thirty minutes to go over the entire lot and though I’ve heard and seen this happen every week, did not really think about it until today, while having a cup of tea sitting in the sun on the balcony.
The landscaper was blowing the dust and dirt towards some end but as I continued to watch, I noticed that much of the dust and dirt just settled back where it had been blown from.
I later walked over to where it seemed the landscaper had aimed her efforts and a pile of dirt might have been left but found nothing of note so I wondered, why blow the dust around in the first place. Was it just for appearance’s sake or did she really believe that her efforts were actually necessary and doing something?
A wind storm that hit the next day certainly showed an extraordinary amount of dust and dirt being blown around in the parking lot that was blown clean just 24 hours before.
So, how much of our daily work is similar to that landscaper blowing clean a parking lot, moving stuff around and having it settle back where it began and leaving, “nothing of note” done.
What I did find, walking back through the parking lot was a thin layer of dust on the cars that were in the parking lot when it was being blown clean.
And, like above, how much of our daily ‘leaf blower’ work does little more than leave a layer of dust on the people and initiatives that are in the vicinity.
Written while listening to a Jethro Tull concert.
William Kerr And associates 