Are you a Pusher or a Placeholder?

Placeholder. We've all had that kind of job. There's lots of work, perhaps critical work, but it doesn't matter that it's YOU who is doing it. Maybe it matters that you show up every day or work overtime or help plan the office Christmas party, but it doesn't matter if you are doing the work--or the person who submitted the next resume in the pile. Perhaps when you took the job you thought you could add some special touch, make some changes. But that didn't happen and now you're just that mythical cog in the machine.

Years ago I was rushing to the kids' school with a car full of tie-dye supplies. It had taken longer than I expected to prepare t-shirts and mix dyes for the class, so I was running late. As I flew down the straight-away of Broken Bow Circle, my way was blocked by a pick-up truck across the road. Two ladies were trying to push it into their driveway, but couldn't get it over the bump of the gutter and up the slight incline--they repeatedly lost momentum and the truck rolled back into the street. I could have gone around on one of the passes when they had it almost up the hill, but I turned off my car and helped them push it out of the street for good. Even with three of us, it took several tries.

There are no placeholders here. Everyone involved with MYO and Scrollworks is a pusher, from Craig, the chairman of the board, to Dion, who pretends to take drum lessons just so he can have brownies. We are pushing the world to a better place. If you think that's too idealistic, too ridiculous to associate with music lessons and youth orchestra, you haven't seen what is happening here.

Our organization is small, so every action, every dollar, has an impact. Entering student registrations in a database is cog-like, but at this point you can design the database or change the registration forms. A single dollar buys a clarinet reed or a cake of rosin for one of the strings. Fifty dollars pays for a month worth of lessons for one of our students.

Feel like a placeholder? Become a pusher with MYO. You can volunteer--just come to Cave9 on Friday or Saturday afternoon. You can push right here, right now by donating.

Push the world to a better place! Donate to MYO--a 501(c)3 organization!