Thanking Those Unseen Workers Behind The Scenes That Take Care Of Us

Thanksgiving has come and gone in Canada, and will come soon in the United States. It's a great idea to thank all of those unseen workers who are keeping us safe, and fed, during these unprecedented times and always.

Photo by Anna Peipina on Unsplash

Transcript

Hello everyone! I'm so happy to finally be doing a video in the sun! Well, Finally, I shouldn't say finally. But it's been cold the last few days. And so I've been waiting for a sunny day so I can do a nice sunny video for all of you people who are maybe in the rain. Or just for myself actually, I just like doing videos in the sun. And so first, In this video I actually wanted to speak to you about all of those unseen, Unheard of support workers. People who are actually doing things behind the scenes, Cleaning things up, Making sure everything is neat and tidy. Or taking care of things in general without us even being aware of it. So when I first watched Harry Potter or read the Harry Potter books, There was this idea in there about the elves. They would come in at night if you watched it or read it, You know about the elves. And in all of the castles and all of the households, The wizard households, Not the muggle ones, The wizard ones, They have these elves. Although I think that the muggle ones have mothers, Which are kind of like the house elves. They have these house elves in all of the wizard households and the castles where no one ever sees them. No one ever actually knows that they're doing things, But they're working in the background. And so the children of the castle are in the Hogwarts school. They would leave a big mess behind every night before they went to sleep in their common rooms. In the morning they would wake up and everything was neat and tidy. All of the garbage was taken out, All of the mess was cleaned up, All of the dirt and dust was cleaned up as well. And it was as if they hadn't even been there. And at first Harry was surprised because he actually didn't know that these elves existed. And Hermione as well, Because she comes from a muggle household, Didn't know that these elves existed. But these elves are not supposed to be seen. They're not supposed to be heard. They're just supposed to work in the background and do their thing without anyone actually knowing that they're doing their thing. It kind of reminds me of a lot of support workers that do their thing as well in today's modern world, Without anyone actually being aware that they're actually doing things or cleaning things up or taking care of business. And one of the main surprises that I had when I first moved to Canada was those cleaners that come in to clean the streets and to wash the streets particularly at night. So I moved downtown and I had no idea this was actually happening before. I must have been 25, 28 or something before I realized this was actually happening every single week or every single day or whatever is going on, However they do the schedule. But I was living downtown and all of a sudden I think I was awake at night or I don't know how, But I was awake at night somehow and I saw this truck come in or this kind of vehicle and it was washing, Scrubbing or brushing the streets. And so I don't know how the machine works particularly, But there's a little bit of water that comes out and then this brush goes round and round and cleans the streets of the dirt and the dust. And I had no idea this was actually going on. I don't know if you know this. I'm sure you know because I'm completely clueless obviously in this regard. But every single week this truck comes by and now I'm a little bit more aware of it because I kind of pay attention, I guess before I didn't. And so I notice every single week this truck coming in, Washing the streets and no idea that this actually happened every single week. I just assumed the streets stayed clean somehow. And these are the streets like actually the tarmac or the asphalt streets. But not even just that, You know, When I was downtown and every single day people in downtown previously when it was very busy, There'd be garbage everywhere. Like all the garbage cans would get overfilled and there'd be garbage on the street and there'd be like little flyers and everything all over the place. It was very dirty. And so at nighttime once or twice I was walking back from a club. I used to do that before. Don't do that anymore. Oh my God. I don't know how I did that. Staying awake till 3 a. M. 4 a. M. But I love to dance. So if I get dancing, I could do it. And so now I'd be walking back home because I live downtown at the time and I'd be walking back home from a club and I'd see all these people, These city workers cleaning the streets. Like they're cleaning the garbage out. They're cleaning out the overflow garbage cans. They're scrubbing and brushing and doing all that stuff. And it's kind of interesting to me because I always think of them as house elves because most of the city is sleeping and no one is aware that they're actually doing their job. No one probably even thinks about thanking them because they don't know that they are doing their job. But only when the pandemic hit and, You know, They weren't allowed, They weren't considered particularly. The street cleaners, I think, Were. I don't actually know, But I know the park cleaners and the pavement cleaners and all the sidewalk cleaners, Like people clean all of the stuff. They weren't considered essential workers, So they didn't actually go out and do all the cleaning. And that's when you really start noticing how much of an effect they have because all the parks got extremely filthy with all the garbage that people just threw about as if they're in their house or something. I'm sure you don't do that in your house. How can you do that on a park? But anyway, That's another story. But I walked to the park and I realized, Ah, This is what's going on. All the support workers who are actually doing all the cleanup are not doing that anymore. And therefore the parks are disgusting. The sidewalks are gross and there's garbage all over the place. Right. The trash collectors were still essential workers, So the trash was still being picked up, Which is a good thing, Thankfully. I don't know how it was for them. I'm sure they had precautions they took. But if that wasn't the case, I don't know what would happen. There would be garbage all over the place because people are so dirty and they just don't think about these things. Right. And so I wanted to kind of share this random video. I'm sure you're thinking, What does this have to do with anything? What are you talking about, Boom? But I really just wanted to do this video because I've been thinking about the fact that, You know, We don't notice the importance of something until it actually goes away. And I've been noticing this particularly about the fact that I can't go back to Thailand right now. And because of that, I'm really noticing how much I appreciate and love Thailand now. I mean, I always knew that I loved it, But because I can't have it, I appreciate it even more, Obviously. Right. And a lot of people, A lot of extra words, A lot of people in general are noticing how much they appreciate the fact that they could just go outside whenever they wanted and do whatever they wanted before the pandemic. You know, That little bit of freedom, That little thing that you didn't think about probably that wasn't even important to you that you did without thinking about it. Right. You just went outside, You opened your door and went outside and went for a coffee, Sat in a cafe, Went to a restaurant, Went to a theater, Watched a movie. All of those things we did without thinking. Just like that. You know, We just went out and did it. All of that is taking on deeper meaning now because all of a sudden we realize how important it is, Even though we did not appreciate it enough, I'm sure, In the past. Right. And so I wanted to share this video, I guess, As a sort of gratitude and appreciation sort of thing where I would really love it if all of you could sit down and take a moment to appreciate all of those things that we've lost because of the pandemic temporarily, Hopefully. But also to appreciate all those people who are taking care of things behind the scene without us even being aware of it. And not only obviously the support workers who do the cleanups, But all the nurses, The doctors, The scientists, The researchers, All of those things that are happening in the background that we're not even aware of. All those farm workers, You know, We're still eating, We still have food on the table. And so all of those things are still happening, Even though we're sitting there thinking, Oh my God, My life sucks. Look at me, I can't go anywhere. Well, Yeah, You can't go anywhere, But at least you're still able to eat food. At least you have Internet still. You know, There's no like power outages. Like you can still switch on the TV and watch TV. There's loads of shows going on still. There's music still being released, I think. I don't know because I don't watch music videos or TV or listen to the radio. I'm sure that's happening still. So there's a lot of stuff going on still despite the pandemic because people are still doing their thing behind the scenes. They're still working at it. You know, They're still plugging away despite us not knowing about it. And so just because we don't know about it doesn't mean that we can't appreciate them for it. And so it'd be really nice if all of you could take a moment of that. I'm sure you've already done this and maybe I'm the last one on the train. But if you haven't, Then it would be really nice if you could take a moment to appreciate all those people who are working behind the scenes for you as well. I'm sure it's not only in Toronto that these trucks are going around and cleaning the streets. I'm pretty sure it happened in Thailand too. And I'm sure, I know it happened in Thailand, But there were loads of people walking around and cleaning the streets all the time. All the time. Because Thailand is big upon cleaning. And Toronto is a very clean city as well. So there's all this cleaning going on. And so a random video, A random topic, But I really appreciate it if you did take this moment of appreciation and gratitude for all those support workers. Because they are working very hard behind the scenes to make sure that we are still living a pretty comfortable life. Considering all the things that are going on in the world right now. So I hope this makes sense to you. I hope that you were able to enjoy the video. If not, You can go on to the next one or skip over to the other things that you're doing. Again, I'm so grateful that you're watching. I'm so grateful for the sunshine. And thank you so much. I shall see you the next time around. Bye for now!

Reviews

As one of those "behind the scenes" workers - albeit in an administrative/coordination role for other "behind the scenes" workers, I very much appreciated this. We don't usually receive much recognition even without a pandemic to contend with, but where I work, our business never shut down, we still had to physically report to work each day, and we were, by nature of our support functions, considered essential workers. We may not be doctors or nurses or firefighters or law enforcement, but we provide the foundation that in part allows them to continue to do their critical work. I am very grateful they are receiving such recognition for doing their jobs which expose them daily to the possibility of becoming sick. I long ago stopped expecting or actually even hoping for any recognition of the vital services we provide, one level down. (One of the jobs I help coordinate in part is the entire housekeeping department for a major military installation, for example.) Listening to this made me smile, though. I appreciate the appreciation. 😊 I am certain all the other house elves such as myself who hear this will appreciate it as well.

Thank you for sharing this gift with us all. I see you and the light within you. Be well. 🤲🏻❤🤲🏻