![The Path Less Traveled Part II](https://tylerslawson.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/the-path-less-traveled-part-ii.jpg?w=557&h=283)
Photo taken from here.*
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” (2 Corinthians 12:7)
In late September, eight hours before I was due to leave on the adventure to Maine, I was called in to a meeting at work. Perhaps ironically, it was the day after my post “The Day Job,” though I’m confident there was no connection. Over the next hour, I discussed my job with my one time supervisor and the HR Director and was let go. I had never been fired before in my life. Granted, the bank assured me that it had nothing to do with my work ethic or integrity (I had “the upmost integrity” they told me), it was still hard to take. In fact, they told me I was rehireable by them, and even gave me a temporary position for a month until I could find another job. To put it bluntly, ever since I started my job there, it was one bad set of circumstances after another. I never was trained fully, and I was very clear with the manager going into the job that I had not studied much in the area I was being hired for. They told me in the meeting that they found that I was “not a good fit” for my current position and that they “took a lot of responsibility on [themselves] for placing me in a position that I was not ready for.”
After much thought, I decided to return to work with the folks that I worked with on the documentary in Tulsa. I thought it might be a season of freelance work. I emailed the producers, after seeing they were crewing up for a new feature, and told me of my availability. “Sorry about [your former employer], but great for us. I’ll send you the details on the upcoming shoot.” Without any question, I was hired as Production Assistant. As a friend told me shortly after the events in September, it’s hard to take when you work hard and are capable of doing a job, yet you’re not properly trained for it. The above email response stood as a testament to that.
The problems at my former employer were rooted many months before with the manager that hired me, and to be honest, I’ve never met a more horrible person in my life. Fortunately she left in early July, and I haven’t seen her since. But even after she left, I found myself verbally forgiving her, but not really. It took me until September before I finally let it go. After the events transpired with my removal, I found myself in the unforgiving circumstance with my former employer for not fully hearing me out (I submitted a 7 page rebuttal letter to have inserted into my file. I wanted everyone in the future to know what all had happened). But at the end of the year, after my pastor finished his series on offense, and we took communion, I said “enough.”
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.” (Luke 12:51-53)
Unfortunately, my problems didn’t just end with my last day of work at my former employer. The producers that hired me walked off the project they had hired me for. I was looking for work, and fighting the expectations my parents had put upon me. Many will remember my post in which I retold of my work in the frozen parking lot, using a pick axe to break up the ice, all while having a college degree. At the time, I did think I could do better, at least in my thoughts. But as I finished at my former employer, I decided I was really where I should have been the whole time, and fortunately, my earlier employer (of almost five years) called to ask me back, and gave me a raise!
…my earlier employer (of almost five years) called to ask me back, and gave me a raise!
It’s not a glamorous or prestigious job, but I am happy there, and it works well alongside my calling. I did go three weeks without being employed in between, and still to this day am without health insurance (something I’ve had to hand over to God). My parents and I rarely talk, most entirely on my end. Even though I reflect on the love of my parents, I have to listen to faith, and not the fear and stress they speak over me. In general in my life, I stay away from negative people. God told us that out of the mouth come blessings and cursings, and there are numerous other scriptures involving negativity. My deepest desire is that one day the world will see my success, that my parents will come around, but even then I am skeptical.
As I walk along this road, I could quit at any time. I could give up and live like most others. I could be a victim by society, as I have been at times. But it’s much more fulfilling to walk as a victor along this path, speeding past the dissenters. And as 2014 gave us wonderful films, I reflect on Louis, Andrew, and Cheryl, when I think about my own life. Here is the classic debate of life reflecting art, and art reflecting life. Here is both. Like many people, I see my life through film, and today these people are me, and I am them. I can give up at any time, but what an awful existence that could be for me. Or for you. Never. Ever. Give. Up. Sweet Dreams.
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:13-14)
*The websites in which these photos are found are not necessarily an endorsement from me, but mostly those photos found during a routine image search.