Ted Tuesday: Job Inspiration (The second of a five-part series)

As the host of the Discovery Channel’s hit show Dirty Jobs, host Mike Rowe has seen — and done — it all. He speaks in-depth about how he’s witnessed first-hand that people who have “dirty jobs” are happier, more balanced individuals who whistle while they work — and pick up road kill as they do it. Rowe makes the point that any job is a respectable job, and why following your passion might be the worst thing you can do for your career.

So with a hat tip to Mashable, let's get started with:

2. Mike Rowe: Learning From Dirty Jobs

In this TED talk, television host of Dirty Jobs, Mike Rowe takes the stand to talk about a rather intriguing topic of lamb castration on a sheep herding farm. Mike begins his talk by explaining how he made some calls to get some background information on such a touchy subject. The essence of castrating a lamb is that a thick rubber band is attached to the lambs testicles, which constrict the blood flow, and later that week the parts just fall off. After having gathered and confirmed this information from multiple sources, Mike is ready for the day of filming of this "dirty job". Upon arriving at the farm the next day, the film crew is set up, the lamb is set up, and Mike allows the lead sheep rancher to do the procedure the first time. To Mike's surprise, the rancher pulls out a knife, not a rubber band. Mike is shocked. Mike then describes in detail how the rancher slices the lambs tail off and rips out the lambs testicles. In obvious distress, Mike then asked for the filming to be stopped; he said that it isn't right to use a knife, but that the rancher should use the rubber band, the "humane way" of doing it. The rancher shrugs his shoulders and does it Mike's "humane" way using a rubber band. To Mike's disbelief, the lamb takes a few steps then falls, stands up and limps into a corner. Mike then describes how he then looked at the lamb that was castrated using a knife, and sees that its frolicking around like nothing even happened. Now its Mike's turn to do the procedure. At this is the moment that Mike has an amazing realization and has two words pop into his head: anagnorisis and peripeteia. Mike then reflects on his life and talks about how beautiful average people do jobs. Often times these jobs are what society label as "bad," yet the people go on everyday enjoying what they are doing for work. Mike also links all of what he said about the sheep rancher farm and his realization to a clever tangent about how there needs to be a change in society.

Reflection:

After having watched this particular TED talk, I was impressed on how Mike Rowe linked everything he said together to then come to his conclusion in his speech. Right off the bat, I was eager to listen to what Mike Rowe has to say, since I've heard of him and seen his shows on television. He does an excellent job of telling his story at the sheep rancher farm. By balancing the sheer gore that what actually happened and the reality of what procedure was better for the sheep was incredible. Not to mention Mike also added in a few bits of humor that really made the speech that much better. I was also very impressed when Mike began linking his relation to anagnorisis and peripeteia. I had never even heard of these words before, yet he did a great job of quickly summarizing what the words actually mean and then continuing his explanation. Toward the end of the speech, Mike basically takes a stand for all of the "lower class" works that are doing all the dirty and unfavorable jobs in America. He really made his point by giving a little light to the workers that we think work long hours and get terrible pay in bad conditions to then making the audience completely shocked when they find out a pig farmer was offered 60 million dollars for his farm, but declined the offer. Mike really made me think twice about the "average" works in America. To wrap up the speech Mike really hits home when he describes how society today is in dire need of more of these works that society normally looks down upon. Overall, this was an excellent speech that really got me thinking!

Have a GREAT day as I look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

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“Opportunity has power over all things.”
~~ Sophocles

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