November 9
Take the role that fell to you, and play it well. You did not choose it — but how you play it is your work alone.
Sentences (freely rendered)
Listening mode
Take the role that fell to you, and play it well. You did not choose it — but how you play it is your work alone.
In some circles you are given a task without anyone saying it out loud. Perhaps you are the one who smooths things over there, or the one who calls first after a quarrel. At some point it just turned out that way, and ever since, everyone has counted on it, you included.
The better you do it, the less you and the others notice that it was never agreed on. Work done well easily passes for inclination. The others take your patience for your nature. Sometimes you believe it yourself, especially on the evenings when you would rather have raised your voice.
So playing a role well can mean two things. You can meet the expectation so smoothly that no one asks any more questions. Or you notice the point where the role demands more of you than you are willing to give, and there you answer differently than usual. If, while mediating, you take sides for once, that is not necessarily a mistake. It may be that, for the first time, people can hear who has been doing the mediating all along.
At the next quarrel, it will probably still be your phone that rings first.
