A JOB TITLE FOR ALL MOMS
Diese Geschichte bekam ich letztens ueber eine email Liste. Ist auf
englisch, aber absolut passend zum Thema:
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A few months ago, when I was picking up the children at school, another
mother I knew well, rushed up to me. Emily was fuming with indignation.
"Do you know what you and I are?" she demanded. Before I could answer -
and I didn't really have one handy - she blurted out the reason for her
question.
It seemed she had just returned from renewing her driver's license at
the County Clerk's office. Asked by the woman recorder to state her
occupation, Emily had hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
"What I mean is," explained the recorder, "Do you have a job, or are you
just a.........? "Of course I have a job," snapped Emily. "I'm a
mother." "We don't list 'mother' as an occupation.....'housewife'
covers it," said the recorder emphatically.
I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same
situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The clerk was obviously a
career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed a high-sounding title,
like 'Official Interrogator' or 'Town Registrar." "And what is you
occupation?" she probed. What made me say it, I do not know. The words
simply popped out. "I'm.....a Research Associate in the field of Child
Development and Human Relations."
The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in mid-air, and looked up as
though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly, emphasizing
the most significant words. Then I stared with wonder as my pompous
pronouncement was written in bold, black ink on the official
questionnaire. "might I ask," said the clerk with new interest, "just
what you do in your field?" Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my
voice, I heard myself reply, "I have a continuing program of research
(what mother doesn't) in the laboratory and in the field (normally I
would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters (the whole
darned family) and already have four credits (all daughters). Of course,
the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care
to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But
the job is more challenging than most run-of-the- mill careers and the
rewards are in satisfaction rather than just money." There was an
increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the
form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.
As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I
was greeted by my lab assistants--age 13, 7, and 3. And upstairs, I
could hear our new experimental model (6 months) in the
child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. I felt
triumphant. I had scored a beat on bureaucracy. And I had gone down on
the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to
mankind than "just another........". Home....what a glorious career.
Especially when there's a title on the door.
(author unknown)
zugesandt wurde mir der Artikel von
Beatrix am 14.04.98
ich finde ihn herrlich!
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