Window Washer
I grew up on a farm in the mid west. We lived fifteen miles from a mid sized city and about sixty minutes from a metropolitan area. We might as well have been a million miles from the city for as often as my parents went there. My father did not like driving in the city or the congestion of all the people. We had relatives that lived in the city so we made occasional trips there, but we never spent much time exploring. When I was in junior high school a girl moved to the area from one of the suburbs. Her father had bought a farm and moved the family out to the country. It was a huge adjustment for them. This girl and I became good friends; in fact we have been best friends for thirty years.
As our friendship developed and we got older we spent more and more time together. When we learned to drive she suggested that we go to the city for a weekend. Her aunt lived in an apartment just off the freeway. We could stay with her and take the city bus to the downtown area. This sounded like a great adventure. Out of all the things I experienced that weekend I was most intrigued by the window washer. I could not believe that someone would do this for a living.
When we got off the metro bus downtown we were surrounded by huge buildings. We were planning on going to the top of a huge glass building to look out from the observation tower. A window washer was working his way down the building when we went in. I stood on the side walk and watched him lower himself from one story to the next. The window washer stood on a platform that was about five feet long and three feet wide. The platform was raised and lowered through a series of pulleys. The window washer would clean three windows on each story and would then lower himself to the next level. After he worked his way down to the bottom he would adjusted the platform over and would work his way back up. One building would take an incredible amount of time to do. As I was watching the window washer I noticed that other people were also gathering to watch his progress. While some of us were standing and watching, other people would just rush past, not interested in what the window washer was doing. I am sure they were people that grew up in the city and were used to this sight.
My friend and I talked about how we take the familiar for granted. I am sure that there were things on the farm that would make city people stop and stare in wonderment, while I rushed past without noticing. This was a good lesson for me to learn at an early age. I try to appreciate the workings of everything that is around me.