Who Stole My Office?

Actually, nobody stole my office; it’s still right there, where I left it on the UCC campus. But when I showed up at it on Monday morning, I found it completely empty. There was no desk and no computer, no filing cabinet and no papers patiently waiting to be filed. The only thing left in the office was a small man who was working so hard he didn’t even notice me as I peeped in the door.

I turned around a few times, hoping someone would notice my confusion and assist me in understanding. One of the grounds keepers came up and said simply and matter-of-factly, “Cleaning.” Oh…

I decided I could easily waste away this Monday at Chacko Homes, so I began to head there for a day of playing cards with the ammachis, looking through the old magazines I save in anticipation of someday being bored, and resting under my fan. I only wished that someone would have told me about this cleaning project before I’d gotten my lazy butt out of bed that morning.

After my surprise three-day weekend, I was ready to get back into my routine. I have gotten pretty good at “wasting” time, and I love it; but I can only do that for so long before I yearn for a routine. So, Tuesday morning, I got up, got ready, and got to work, expecting my office to be immaculately clean. But it was in no better of a state than it had been on Monday. In fact, it was probably in even worse condition, and the furniture and paperwork were all still missing. The only change I could see from the day before was that, this time, there were two men working so hard they didn’t even notice me. “Some cleaning job this must be,” I thought, as, once again, I turned around in circles hoping for somebody to come by and set me straight. One of the physics professors noticed me standing there looking stranded. She smiled, told me that the office was about to be painted, and sent me to the library to do my work. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get anything done in the library because they are also doing improvement work on that building. Plus, out of the four computers in the library, only two of them work, which means that if I sit at one of them, the entire rest of the college has to share the other one between themselves; I feel kind of bad about that. So, once again, home I went. And, once again, I wondered why someone couldn’t have informed me of this before I woke up cursing my alarm.

But, rather than becoming annoyed, I recalled one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned during my time in this culture, that, really, it’s no problem. And, as I put my pajamas back on and climbed into bed for yet another day of reading and resting, I had to believe it – really, it’s no problem at all.