work wisdoms: pruning

I'm not a person who likes to meddle with other people's business. As long as I'm doing my job and I'm not hurting anyone, then everything's fine. Live and let live. However, there are times when life puts us on the spot. Sometimes, we have to call out someone when they're doing something wrong. I have a real problem with that. I hate confrontations.

Someone told me about an orchid she once had. She took good care of it, gave it enough sunlight and water but when it grew, it was crooked. It wasn't as perfect as the ones she saw on the shop. Her dad told her that she should've pruned it while it was growing.

"Pruning is a horticultural practice involving the selective removal of parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. Reasons to prune plants include deadwood removal, shaping (by controlling or directing growth), improving or maintaining health, reducing risk from falling branches, preparing nursery specimens for transplanting, and both harvesting and increasing the yield or quality of flowers and fruits. The practice entails targeted removal of diseased, damaged, dead, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted tissue from crop and landscape plants." ~wikipedia.com

She told me, we have to prune people to make them better. We may look like the bad guys but in reality, we're shaping their character for their own good. When you look at it that way, the job's not so bad after all. We're an instrument to help others become their best selves.

After a while, I realized I still need some pruning myself. Well, I guess I don't need to worry, because life always makes sure that I get all the pruning I need. I don't think it stops as long as we're alive. We're all enrolled in that school. It hurts (my pride mostly) and oftentimes it's embarrassing. But you know what? I'm still here and I'm still standing-- only now my head is bowed down. I think that's the best way to handle pruning-- but I'm saving that for another post :).


Sources:
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://www.partylightsite.com