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| Just a Mother? |
I remember a few years ago, when I was picking up the children
at school, another mother I knew well, rushed up to me. She was
fuming with indignation. "Do you know what you and I are?", she
demanded.
Before I could answer - and I didn't really have one handy - she
blurted out the reason for her question. It seemed she had just
returned from renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk's
office. Asked by the woman behind the counter to state her
"occupation," she had hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
"What I mean is," explained the clerk, "Do you have a job, or
are you just a ......?"
"Of course I have a job," snapped my friend. "I'm a mother."
"We don't list "mother" as an occupation... "housewife" covers
it," said the clerk emphatically.
I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the
same situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was
obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of
a high-sounding title, like "Official Interrogator" or "Town
Registrar."
"And what is your occupation?", she probed.
What made me say it, I do not know. The words simply popped out.
"I'm....a Research Associate in the field of Child Development
and Human Relations."
The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in mid-air, and looked up
as though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly,
emphasizing the most significant words. Then I stared with wonder
as my pompous pronouncement was written in bold, black ink on the
official questionnaire.
"Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest, "just what you
do in your field?"
Cooly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself
reply, "I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn't)
in the laboratory and in the field (normally I would have said
indoors and out).
I'm working for my Masters (the whole darned family) and already
have three credits (all healthy).
Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities
(any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day
(24 is more like it).
But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers
and the rewards are in satisfaction rather than just money."
There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice
as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to
the door.
As I drove into our driveway buoyed up by my glamorous new career,
I was greeted by my lab assistants---age 7 and 5. And upstairs, I
could hear our new experimental model (six months) in the
child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern.
I felt triumphant.
I had scored a beat on bureaucracy.
And I had gone down on the official records as someone more
distinguished and indispensable to mankind than
"just another......"
Home...
what a glorious career.
Especially
when there's a title on the door. |
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