What Happens to One

I keep thinking about a painting. It’s called The Son of Man by a Belgian artist named Rene Magritte. You have probably seen it before. Here is a picture of it.

I read a little about this painting and what the artist was trying to capture. From what I can tell, it is supposed to represent the idea that you can never really know another person’s true identity. That everyone has secrets and layers. Obstacles, like the apple, make you curious to know what’s behind it so you can better know the person. And yet, do you really know them? Moving past one layer or obstacle will likely only reveal another and then another. It’s not exactly a trust-inspired message, is it? There are a number of religious overtones to it that I saw discussed, but I decided not to go down that path for the moment.

To me, the painting makes me think about my job. The person in the painting represents an anonymous/every man sort of feeling I get sometimes. My job title is rather broad. It is one that any number of companies use, and no one knows exactly what it means because it means different things to different people. I look at this painting like it was a template for my job. Just copy and paste your face there. Does that mean I think I am interchangeable with everyone else? No. It means that I am feeling like I’m in a bit of a rut right now and the sameness of the days and projects is wearing on me. I am also thinking about something that happened today to one of my coworkers and feeling sad about not knowing more about her than her job title.

It’s easy to feel a bond with people that perform the same job you do. Even if you don’t know them that well personally, there is still common ground based on work experience that cuts through what might otherwise be awkward small talk. You can commiserate on bad experiences, share stories about outrageous client demands, strange travel experiences, and the absolute BEST (hotel, restaurant, store, etc) to see/do when you are in a certain city. In good times, it’s being a part of something that feels special and something that no one else might understand the same way. In bad times, luckily, it does the same thing. I don’t know if the people I work with feel the same, but there are certainly times when I feel like what happens to one of us, affects all of us.

Today is one of those times. Today our group got a little smaller. I didn’t know her well on a personal basis, but I knew her. We had the same job, essentially. Over the years, our paths crossed infrequently and we both went on to specialize in different areas based on our strengths and interests, but that commonality was still there. We would still have been able to share “war stories” about coming up through the trenches of bizarre employees, multiple reorganizations, plummeting stock prices, and new certifications that popped up only to be tossed aside a year later. To hear about her today made me sad. I was sad that she was away from home and her family. And after all these years, it was only today that I learned she has a son.