I believe in honor, faith and service.
I believe that a little outrage can take you a long way.
I believe in freedom of speech.
I believe in empathy.
I believe in truth.
I believe in the ingredients of love.
This I believe.
Each Monday we bring your series: This I believe.
Yolanda Urbana lives in Richmond, California. But she traveled the world ,Spain Japan, Northern India, usually alone. It was closer to home, that she discovered her belief. Here’s series creator independent producer Jay Alyson.
Nearly a year and half into this series we continued to be surprised, as we were by Yolanda Urbana. We asked her boss, a scientist to contribute an essay, he 's still working on his. But in the meantime, she wrote one of her own. Based, as you will hear, on the work she does for her boss. Here is Yolanda Urbana with her essay for This I believe.
I believe in being what I am instead of what sounds good to the rest of the world. Last year, I left a job I hated as a programmer for a job I love, as an executive assistant, which is just a fancy word for secretary. I still feel a little embarrassed when people asked me about my new job. Not because of what I do, but because of what some people, including myself, have thought of secretaries.
I had always thought that secretaries were nice and may be competent, but not smart, or strong, or original. I have a master's degree in English Literature, have interviewed the Dalai Lama and co-founded a non-profit organization. People who know me wondered why I would go for what seemed to be such a dull and low-status job. Even my new boss asked if I would be bored. Why would I want to be a secretary? Because it fits me like a glove. I get to do what I love best all day, which is organized things. I like the challenge of holding the focus on the top priorities in my boss’s wildly busy schedule. I can function with a high degree of chaos, untangling finances feels like playing detective to me. I find filing restful.
The only hard part is dealing with my own and other people's stereotypes and learning to focus on internal rewards rather than humble appearances. I admit that I feel vaguely embarrassed, bringing the faculty lunch or serving coffee to my boss’s visitors. But deep down, I don’t believe that serving food is humiliating. Really, I think of it as a practice in humility. My husband is Tibetan. In Tibetan communities you serve each other tea as a form of respect. When I am serving coffee at work, I imagine that I am serving a monk.
Whenever I get down or defensive about being a secretary, I think of those sharp fast-talking assistants on the West Wing and how they speak in paragraphs and remember everything and I feel pretty cool.
Sometimes I just look around at my fellow secretaries, savvy and articulate women, who are masters in multitasking. I know I am in good company.
I have done a lot solo travel in my life, in New Zealand, Japan, Africa and India. Taking this job is harder than any of that. when I said I was going to spend a year in Northern India, I get points. When I said I was going to be a secretary, people wondered what happened to me. It would be easier if I were someone whose skill is more respected and better compensated, a doctor, an architect, a scientist. I would feel cool when I meet someone at a party. But a friend reminded me that you only have to talk about what you do for five minutes at parties, but you have to live what you do everyday of your life. So better to do what you love and forget about how it looks. And this I believe.
Yolanda Urbana with her essay for this I believe. She told us, by the way, that she tore up many versions before she wrote this one. If you like to make the attempt yourself, visit our website npr.org. Well you can also browse through the thousands of essays that have been submitted to date.
For this I believe, I am Jay Alyson.
Hear another this I believe essay next Monday and all things to consider.
Support for this I believe comes from Cappela University.
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VOCABULARY
1. competent adj. CAPABLE, FIT, QUALIFIED <a competent mechanic >
2. untangle v. 1. DISENTANGLE 2. to strength out, resolve: <untangle a problem>
3. savvy n & adj. practical know how <political savvy>
4. articulate adj. able to speak; also: expressing oneself readily and effectively <an articulate orator>
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