Pooper Scoopers

Have you ever been at a parade and watched these beautiful hoarses march down the street decorated in costumes and pulling important people along? And then you may or may not notice the inconspicous individuals who follow silently to scoop up the poop. I've seen them and I wonder every time I think to myself how they did they get that job out and why would they want to do it.

Tonight, I realized, I am my own form of a pooper scooper. Hidden in the background, out of the limelight, I am here to clean up poop. Sometimes, I realize, I got that job. Yes. Me. I get pucked on, peed on, pooped on, spittuped on, and I change poop several times, ALL DAY long. Some days are harder than others and most days I love my little darlings - just sometimes and some days require more faith.

Sometimes I think, "Did I get my Bachelors for this?" It would be tempting to think there is no meaning for someone who merely cleans up poop, but then I think about Mother Theresa, who, despite the limelight (that she didn't want), did the EXACT SAME THING as well as fed the starved, dressed oozing wounds, hugged those with a stench and whom no one else would touch and she became one of the greatest saints of our time - because she did it OUT OF LOVE.

So the next time I am tempted to disregard the pooper scoopers "low" job, I have to remember that it is not our jobs or what we "do" that has meaning, but as always, who we are and how much we love that gives meaning to our existence and gains Heaven.

Here's to all of us pooper scoopers!!