If they broke every pencil in the world I’d have to start chiseling words into walls.
This was the title of an article I read in the May 2003 issue of Good Housekeeping, U.K. Fourteen years had passed and it’s still fresh in my mind.
This was the story of Mamie Lang, a cleaner who went into scriptwriting, to storylining and editing.
At age 57 (year 2003) her life was on a downwards spiral and she has nothing to look forward to but her job as a cleaner. She loved her job but her self-esteem was at a rock bottom. She felt that there is more to life than what she had at present.
During the 21st death anniversary of her partner, she was feeling low she decided to take a walk. She did not take her regular route but turned the other way.
It started to rain and she had to take shelter from the library nearby. By a stroke of luck, a writer in residence, Des Dillon, was having a writers’ group. She approached him and told him that she wanted to learn how to write but haven’t even written anything, not even her diary.
Mr. Dillon asked her to tell him something interesting that had happened to her. She then started to tell him a detailed funny story about her father’s funeral. After she had finished with the story, she was told to go home and write about it.
She bought a pad, went home and wrote it in a straightforward way. A week after, she happily showed what she had written, but Mr. Dillon said it was rubbish. He told her to go home and write the story again with the feelings, humor and warmth of how she first related the story to him.
He loved the improved version of her writing. He helped her record it as a spoken CD to be used b y the Scottish Arts Council for their up-and-coming writers’ archives.
On one of her readings, a literature officer for the Scottish Arts Council, enjoyed her style of writing and told her to continue on writing. She told him that she just cannot give up her job as a cleaner for it is her only source of income.
The man told her that she could apply for a subsistence grant and have to give up her job to concentrate on her writing full time. She applied and eventually was granted a grant of £10,000.
She became a scriptwriter as recommended by Mr. Dillon for a famous Scottish soap, High Road. He told the producers that she was better than he was. When the soap was axed, she went back to cleaning again, but she promised herself that she will not go backwards. She spent as much writing as she could.
About a year later, Mr. Dillon told her that he was giving up his position as a writer in residence and would she be interested in filling up his position? She was happy that Mr. Dillon was taking a chance on her by offering her his vacated job.
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This is a very inspiring story, it just goes to tell us that what You are doing now or where you ar3 now does not determine where you will end up. God indeed has his own way of dealing with our sorrows and frustrations in life all we need to do is to trust him. This lady had no idea that her story would end her in the position that she has now. All she knew is that she is a cleaner and that is what she amounts to. Sometimes we are pushed to do certain things by people who don't even know us and it's this stranger's that propel us to greater levels in our lives. Another thing I have learned from this story is that you should never look down upon yourself because there is a hero in all of us. We all are capable of doing certain things in life. It also reminds me to never look down upon anything because it's through that thing that your blessing may come from. Always do your work with joy, love what you do, put in effort do it to the best of your knowledge and even though you may not see much in what you do, remember that there is always someone watching from afar and they might just be the breakthrough that you have always wanted.
Oh, I do love your comment and your insights on this post! Everything you said is true and it hit right thru the heart.
It is true that we must never belittle anyone just because of their status in life, their gender, their work etc. Respect must always be given, whether you are rich or poor.
And so very true that a much Greater Being is watching over us, always.
powering story, from a human who liked to fight and stand on her feet, she delt with her sorrow in a way to benefit from, pushed her self capablitly so she can become something or legend after she was poor human, reminds me of many of the people who become a flag after they were either waiters or cleaner or anthing or any job that made less money, with keep on failing they learned that they are strong and they are good to live a good live but needs to find a way to reach aht life that they want.
great people are not people with money but people who do not give up and do great jobs for themselves and for the society that ht they live in
Mamie Lang is really an inspiration for me for she really believes that she can be better than what her current job is. No obstacle can hinder her drive in achieving what she really wants in life.
So true about your last sentence. Those who do not give up are bound to succeed.