The Squeaky Bearing
One day as I was taking a round of the factory during maintenance day I saw a young engineer inspecting the machines. He would rotate all wheels, move all levers up and down and check the functions. I followed him around and realized that when a wheel/lever would squeak he would open up its bearing, do the necessary greasing and oiling and fix it up again and this is how he finished his maintenance work.
Again I went for a round during the next maintenance day in the following month. I realized that a senior person was inspecting this time. To my surprise he would open up all the wheels/levers where there were bearings or joints and do greasing and oiling. I walked up to him and asked him "Sir, your junior only greased the Squeaky Bearings but you attend to all. Why is that?". He politely replied "He's inexperienced sir, just because a bearing does not squeak does not mean it does not require proper maintenance". He smiled and carried on with his work. It was then that a very important message of life dawned to me
"The Squeaky Bearing gets the grease"
This is how most of us live our lives, like the young engineer. This is how we often treat the people in our lives and our relationships. The one person or people who are prone to making ruckus, to throw tantrums generally get most of our attention while the quiet ones are, well, quietly ignored for a longer while.
The more demanding sibling gets more attention from parents, while the other is asked to be understanding. The extrovert student gets the teacher's attention while the introvert works silently on his own. The more demanding friend gets your time while the one who waits for your free time is always waiting. The worker who is always asking for a pay hike gets it while the patient one keep waiting. The list is endless.
Being rational beings capable of thinking it is our responsibility to ensure each one gets what they rightfully deserve and not on the basis of how much they demand. In an introvert student might be the brightest mind of the generation waiting to be explored. Relationships may slip away in the wait. Every person, every relationship has to be maintained with time, effort and commitment. Another valuable point here would be that we also need to train the quiet ones to ask for what they want, because not everyone is going to understand the needs behind the silence, but in this article I wanted to emphasize how we such be more mindful about all the people in our lives.
As the experienced maintenance engineer taught me. Do regular maintenance of the bearings that are 'not' squeaky and you will have them running smoothly for a very very long time. So put in an effort to maintain all relationships and people, give your time to all, especially the ones who are not demanding, they are the ones who need it but will never ask for it. May be they need you most but are just being understanding as they have always been taught to be.
There are exceptions, like in all cases, where people have given the silent ones what they deserve, the teacher who identified the bright but quiet kid, the parents who gave both siblings their due, the boss who gave an increment to all the employees as per their performances etc. A big cheer and lots of respect to them but for most of us others, Distribute your time wisely and do what you have to do, NOW!!
Again I went for a round during the next maintenance day in the following month. I realized that a senior person was inspecting this time. To my surprise he would open up all the wheels/levers where there were bearings or joints and do greasing and oiling. I walked up to him and asked him "Sir, your junior only greased the Squeaky Bearings but you attend to all. Why is that?". He politely replied "He's inexperienced sir, just because a bearing does not squeak does not mean it does not require proper maintenance". He smiled and carried on with his work. It was then that a very important message of life dawned to me
"The Squeaky Bearing gets the grease"
This is how most of us live our lives, like the young engineer. This is how we often treat the people in our lives and our relationships. The one person or people who are prone to making ruckus, to throw tantrums generally get most of our attention while the quiet ones are, well, quietly ignored for a longer while.
The more demanding sibling gets more attention from parents, while the other is asked to be understanding. The extrovert student gets the teacher's attention while the introvert works silently on his own. The more demanding friend gets your time while the one who waits for your free time is always waiting. The worker who is always asking for a pay hike gets it while the patient one keep waiting. The list is endless.
Being rational beings capable of thinking it is our responsibility to ensure each one gets what they rightfully deserve and not on the basis of how much they demand. In an introvert student might be the brightest mind of the generation waiting to be explored. Relationships may slip away in the wait. Every person, every relationship has to be maintained with time, effort and commitment. Another valuable point here would be that we also need to train the quiet ones to ask for what they want, because not everyone is going to understand the needs behind the silence, but in this article I wanted to emphasize how we such be more mindful about all the people in our lives.
As the experienced maintenance engineer taught me. Do regular maintenance of the bearings that are 'not' squeaky and you will have them running smoothly for a very very long time. So put in an effort to maintain all relationships and people, give your time to all, especially the ones who are not demanding, they are the ones who need it but will never ask for it. May be they need you most but are just being understanding as they have always been taught to be.
There are exceptions, like in all cases, where people have given the silent ones what they deserve, the teacher who identified the bright but quiet kid, the parents who gave both siblings their due, the boss who gave an increment to all the employees as per their performances etc. A big cheer and lots of respect to them but for most of us others, Distribute your time wisely and do what you have to do, NOW!!
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