Our Jobs Do Not Define Us

As many of you know, I substitute teach to make a few extra dollars. (The writing gig’s great, but it isn’t making me rich.) I share my writing career with the people at the schools where I work, and recently the secretary in charge of subs told me that one of their night custodians was also a writer who was working on his own graphic novel. I requested she ask the custodian to stop by the room where I would be at the end of the day. She did, and I was amazed at his work.

His name is James Muse. (Yes, I love his last name!) He showed me the graphic novel he is working on. His artwork and the story and characters were as good as anything to be found in a store selling graphic novels.

This interaction made me start thinking how much we judge others by the job they hold. Yes, Mr. Muse is not college-educated, but to dismiss him because of what he does to earn his living would ignore who he is beyond his job.

This man is an artist and writer. I was enthralled by the attention to detail in his artwork. His characters were unique and their personalities and “super powers” demonstrated genius-level imagination. I won’t discuss the particulars because there are those out there who would steal his ideas and I don’t wish to be a party to that, but I was captivated by the ingenuity shown in their creation.

James Muse might make his living cleaning the messes left behind by teenagers and adults alike, but I felt honored to be shown his work, which is still incomplete. I mentioned he should contact publishers of these types of work, that I thought his work was as good as anything out there, but he demurred.

We should all learn that there is more to anyone than meets the eye. Down deep we know this to be true, but we don’t practice this as often as we should, and Mr. Muse was a reminder to me that I am as lax as anyone concerning reserving judgment at times.

I’ve seen Mr. Muse again since that day. He stopped by to say hello the last time I was at the school. I invited him to join us at Hanover Writers Club, but he works nights and will be unable to attend.

That’s a shame, because he is as much of a writer as I am.