#DailyWritingChallenge: Purpose
Did you know that every living creature on this planet has a purpose? Take the small remora fish – in exchange for temporary room and board, they keep their hosts (much larger fish) free of parasites and dead skin. If you look closely in a shark’s mouth, you may see them in there, cleaning its teeth. Ants, possibly one of the most annoying insects, work hard to keep things clean too. They feed on dead animals, other insects and organic waste, helping them to decompose quicker and more efficiently. Each creature has a purpose and has a vital reason to be alive and so do we.
My four grandparents all had an incredibly important purpose in the roles that they chose to do in life – a nurse, a policeman, a cleaner and a dustbin man. Sadly, my granny who was a cleaner felt inferior to everyone else – but what would the world be like if we didn’t have cleaners? I remember watching a programme once on some of the world’s most challenging jobs – sewer cleaner, logger, steeple chase, steel worker, manure collector – there were many. Suffice to say each one of these jobs has an important purpose in the world we live in.
On leaving hospital, Boris Johnson thanked everyone in the NHS for all they do. He expressed his gratitude for the wonderful care he had received and thanked his incredible doctors and nurses, but he also thanked the cleaners, caterers, pharmacists, careworkers and everyone who works for the NHS. Everyone working for the NHS at the moment has a very important purpose and they really are making a difference.
Outside of the NHS, many of us have found that our purpose has changed recently. Some people have become NHS volunteers and adopted a new role. Mercedes have recently refocused their purpose and are currently designing and making breathing aids. Morrisons, the supermarket, has changed its core purpose to that of ‘feeding the nation’. People are doing what Emerson asserted – they are living in a way that is useful, honourable and compassionate in order to make a difference.
Whatever our role, whatever we are doing, currently our core purpose is the same – it is to rid ourselves of Coronavirus and to keep our loved ones alive. We are pulling together and doing what we can in order to do just this. Nations are working with nations and governments with governments – all are focused on one common purpose. The news day after day demonstrates this. I honestly don’t think that there has ever been a time in my life where so many countries have been focused on one common purpose.
Howard Schultz asserted that:
and this gives me hope.