posted
I was trying to come up with one. It's surprisingly difficult. I mean, dkw has the whole "shepherd" thing (or shepherdess as the case may be) going. And she has another one that I thought was even better, once she explained it.
But then...the usefulness of a metaphor about ones calling in life is that it helps other people instantly understand something basic about what that job is. Its importance to the world, how it relates to the business of living.
And there just isn't a good metaphor for someone who analyzes data to identify opportunities to improve traffic safety.
Unless... it could be like medieval monk illuminating manuscripts for use by others. That's sort of close -- I take one source, kind of copy it, maybe make some things stand out better, and then pass it along to someone who makes decisions that could affect lives.
Problem is I don't just copy stuff. And I have an opinion on what I'm looking at. I get to advocate particular positions even if I don't implement the programs that address the problems I help to find.
So...this sort of nameless toiling aspect and not understanding the source material (many monks were illiterate, no?
Anyway, I'm still working on it.
I thought I'd post here and see if you all have jobs for which there is a handy metaphor that helps you explain it to interested outsiders.
A friend of mine who works in the organic chemistry field said he was a "roofer." Because all the mistakes end up making tar. LOL. At the time I was studying psychology. I figured I was a "tile man" if he could be a roofer. Oh well...
posted
Lately, classroom teachers are the cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich, when it is made by someone who makes a grilled cheese sandwich by pushing down, hard, on the bread with a spatula.
The teachers AND the students are the cheese, actually. The slices of bread are the parents and the school administration. The spatula is the superintendent. The sandwich maker is the state government. The stove is the US government. The kitchen is the world.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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I tell students all the time -- I'm a benevolent dictator. If they're acting up, not so benevolent. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Doorstop. Definitely. I make a lot of people's lives better. But they aren't quite sure how, if they even notice. Kind of like BASF..."We don't make the products you buy, we make the products you buy better."
I used to be a doormat, but I got a promotion.
Posts: 1379 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I was actually thinking about this the other day, Bob. I'm not sure how well this works, exactly, but it seems to me that editing Independent Study courses is like cleaning a library. You come into the library and have to make it easily accessible to any moron who comes into it. That means moving similar books to the same part of the library, making sure hallways and space between bookshelves are clearly marked and wide enough for the traffic, ensuring that the card catalog accurately leads users to the correct books, finding lost books, dusting, etc. Sometimes the library you're assigned only needs dusting, and sometimes you wish you could just buy entirely new books and new shelves and start from scratch (How on earth can you have a science fiction section and not have anything by Card, Clarke, or Asimov?). Unfortunately, as an editor, I never get to do the latter. So you make do as well as you can, and maybe make a quiet suggestion that an Orson Scott Card section would really make the library wonderful. Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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I kind of see you out there as a Lone Crusader/Expert. Not quite the same kind as sndrake but in the same ilk. I mean you are toiling through all that data to SAVE PEOPLE'S LIVES.
Yes, Bob, you didn't know it, but you are a Superhero, crunching numbers to rescue babies and leap buildings with a single bound.
quote:I kind of see you out there as a Lone Crusader/Expert. Not quite the same kind as sndrake but in the same ilk. I mean you are toiling through all that data to SAVE PEOPLE'S LIVES.
YIKES! If "lone crusader" seems like an appropriate description for me, then I have done a very bad job of describing what I do!
I mean, I do spend an indordinate amount of time studying, analyzing, obsessing and sometimes even writing something for publication...
But the best moments are when I can play a role in making something bigger than me happen. When I can help provide info and assistance to local activists to facilitate them becoming local media "experts." Most of the real strength of my advocacy - to the extent that it exists - is the fact that I represent viewpoints held by a larger group of people. I'm just the one who gathers the facts, figures and finds out where the bodies are hidden.
*Change of subject*
Am I the only one who has been disturbed by the shepherd/pastor analogy? I could never get past the idea that the shepherd keeps the flock safe for one of two things:
1. Wool-shearing - the flock is a commodity. 2. Slaughter - the flock is meat.
Probably just me - not the first time and probably not the last I've had a perspective falls into the category of "deviant." Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I wasn't trying to discount your data analysis sndrake, I know you do it, but you do have a public component that is more, well, public, and a bit less anonomyous than Bob's job has.
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I actually have a picture, in my old bedroom, of a sheltie, in a snow storm standing over a sheep, howling for its master. I've got to ask my mother if she will include it in the things she is going to send to me after it gets out of smoke damage detox.
My granddady (an Army Chaplain) always said that God didn't call him to be the Good Shepherd, only a sheepdog. I'm much more comfortable with the sheepdog analogy myself. Because the sheepdog herds the sheep to serve the Shepherd, with no immediate reward other than the sound of the Master's voice.
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We're cool, AJ. I tend to make my reactions a little over the top and forget that without strategically placed graemlins, I can be taken more seriously than I mean to be.
Bob is a much more serious hard data analyst than I could ever hope to be - or want to be. And yes, does so in anonymity except for the occasional appearance on a national morning news show.
I was reacting mostly to the "lone crusader" thing - I don't see myself as one. If I become one in fact, then I really have lost my usefulness to the people who look to me for useful information and support.
*do not see myself as a shepherd for reasons cited in my previous message*
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I think being a writer is its own metaphor.
But if I had to come up with another one, then I'd say "mechanic." Because I take text that has transmission problems and mysterious clunking noises and I get it running smoothly again.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I'm a professional trouble-maker. Seriously.
My job basically boils down to finding problems. I don't even have to identify exactly what the problem is or how to fix it, just discover that it exists.
What do I do exactly? I check temperature uniformity in heat treating and vacuum furnaces and accuracy of the equipment controlling it. When there's a problem, I pass it on the maintenance personnel (who have named me killerette) whose job it is to determine the exact problem and how to fix it (although I can usually tell them what I think the problem and solution are). Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:ludosti: i wonder what your job would be - babysitter?
I think that sounds pretty close to what I do. I take care of similar minded people all day/night at my job, with the exception that I'm not allowed the raid the fridge for any food.
(for the record, I'm a phone monkey for Safeway, Inc.)
Posts: 851 | Registered: Oct 2001
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