Dare To Care

By: D. A. Slinkard

I was recently speaking with my wife, and we were talking about how the world is revolving. One of the things pointed out is how people go about doing their jobs. It seems more and more people are content with only showing up, clocking in and clocking out, to earn a paycheck. I am a firm believer many people no longer have the desire to fully commit to the job they are doing and are just merely existing as an employee. What would our society be like if more people dared to care?

I was brought up to take pride in the work I do, and no matter how big or small the job is, my goal is to do it to the best of my ability. However, today we have people who do not care about the effort they put in. If they do a good job, if they do a mediocre job, it makes no difference to them. This way of thinking needs to be stopped. If you have this mentality, the time is now for you to change your approach.

We have people who are lackluster in the work they do. They cannot figure out why they get passed over for promotions. They get negative employment reviews, and instead of properly taking the blame based on their own actions, they try to pass it off on someone else. They try to blame their work environment; they try to blame their boss; they try to blame their employer. What would our society be like if more people dared to care?

It is one thing to do a good job when someone is watching, but it is another thing to do a good job when no one is paying attention. We live in a world that is hungry for instant gratification and constant recognition. We have a generation of workers who want to be praised for doing the basics and feel it is harassment when they receive constructive criticism. We have a generation of workers who cannot accept the realities of their shortcomings, and this has been brought from the rewarding of participation trophies — the idea that everyone gets a trophy for participating had a damaging impact on the mentality of our society.

How does someone turn their attitude around and dare to care? First, they must commit to become the best person they can be. There are times we need to take an honest assessment of who we are versus who we want to be. I recommend you take out a piece of paper and write out the characteristic traits of who you want to be as a person in all aspects of your life. For instance, I would make a list of the characteristic traits of a successful spouse, a successful employee, a successful servant of God. While your list may be different than mine, the idea is to get your brain thinking about who you desire to be.

Too often, though, we find it hard to be honest with ourselves. We think to ourselves that we are not as bad as what we really are. We try to downplay the negative aspects of who we are as a person, and this exercise is going to take you being completely honest with yourself. If the baby is ugly, the baby is ugly; and we need to be prepared for what we have.

The next step is to contemplate what actions will be required to possess the character traits you want. Once you have identified these steps, then you must begin to map out what your journey will look like. Sometimes people appear not to care when they do not know how to care. They do not know what it is they want to achieve, they do not know who they want to be; so they aimlessly go about life just hoping they find themselves.

When you understand who you are in comparison to who you want to be and then take the steps to make it a reality, you will notice a change in your life. It will not happen overnight and it will take work; but the end results will be worth it in the end. The world is full of people who do not care and if you have been one of them, now is your opportunity to change how you have been living your life. What are you waiting for? No one else is going to do it for you, and I dare you to care.
By: D. A. Slinkard