When I joined the religious life and took vows, I quickly became more than just Brother Sean. I soon became a young man proficient in painting, electrical, cooking, cleaning, and even cement work and landscaping! I got moved around to various work crews, but electrical is where I ended up more often than not.
Each alternate Saturday morning during the school year, and each weekday morning in the summer especially, I'd be told where I was needed that day. If it was house or kitchen work, I'd just go straight there, but if it was electrical stuff as I did most often, I'd report to a classroom over in the school. It was there that all the Brothers and student workers on duty that day would report, to check in for attendance and a brief summary of what we'd be doing. The painters might be repainting the track outside, the woodworking crew might be helping to build a new wall in the auditorium, and the electricians might be needed to rewire the newest computer lab. Whatever the jobs were, we knew what had to be done, and then went off in our separate groups to do it.
I personally loved working on the electricians' team, as we were a smaller group of just one or two other Brothers and me, plus one, two, or three student workers. I was only 18 to 21 in those years, so the students I supervised were not that much younger than me. We were our own unit, and had our own jobs to get done in the same small area. So because of all this, we had lots of really great conversations. Do I remember any of them? No, I guess I don't. But I do remember enjoying it all very much!
The best part about it, besides learning a new trade and basically not having any extra heavy work to do, were the challenges we faced on each job. You knew by the end of each project, large or small, we'd have a classroom wired up, or all new outlets installed, or a new light fixture hung in the chapel, or new hand dryers installed in the school bathrooms. But before we could get to that end goal, we had to first think out what we'd need. We'd head over to our electrical supplies area, search for the right wires, cables, nuts, screws, and other tools, and then head to the job site.
Once we were there, we'd have to figure out what prep work had to be done before we could tackle the issue. In many cases, we had to find out where the wires were coming from before we could start, or maybe even run new wires through the ceiling or crawl space. Sometimes this was as easy as tossing a wire across a drop down ceiling to someone waiting 10 feet away, but other times, you had to snake a new wire down a tight passageway and hope to God it reached the correct destination without too much sweat. In each situation, we always started with an end goal in mind before we began the often complicated process of reaching that goal.
And really, isn't that just like this life we're living right now? Whether the goal is one day away, or two months, or even years, we start with a goal in mind. Then we collect the tools and parts necessary, and we set about journeying from place A to place B. Being an electrician taught me that whenever the goal is within reach, it will be done. The process of arriving there, though often fraught with challenges, is set up to ultimately succeed. You just know it can be done. And the joy of the work, of the journey along the way, is knowing that by the time you're all finished, new lights will shine.
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