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NEWS | Aug. 14, 2012

"Is your job fun?"

By Colonel Justin Davey 628th Mission Support Group commander

"Is your job fun?," my son asked me one evening. It was an innocuous question that left me speechless, unable to answer succinctly. Fun? ... Generally rewarding, fulfilling and worthwhile, but simultaneously fatiguing, frustrating, and at times, all-consuming.

Don't misunderstand me; I love my job and know it's my calling. However, it dawned on me that probably no work set before me has been "fun" since I was allowed to help my mom wash dishes for the first time. We all remember, as kids, how it didn't take long for the fun to wear off of each new chore. Nonetheless, my son's question was before me and has since led to much philosophical discussion in the Davey house.

A child's perception of fun and work these days is heavily influenced by the entertainment and advertising industries. Video games stylishly portray virtual combat as a great source of amusement in the comfort of your own home. Hollywood and Madison Ave. entice us to want to live like the stars - rich, good-looking and always smiling. That seems to be how pop culture defines a winner, but it is an illusion based on self-gratification. There is more to this life - meaningful endeavors that can't be resolved in an hour, including commercials, or with the press of the reset button. Pop culture depicts fulfillment as a condition devoid of struggles and synonymous with a life of ease. That is a fallacy.

I do find my job fulfilling, but it is not easy. Most days are a compilation of struggles of varying intensities. Strangely, that is what makes work attractive to me. The very frustrations, challenges and struggles I manage daily are the seeds that give birth to motivation to strive to make things better - to seek positive change in the product, the process, in others and oneself. To accomplish anything worthwhile, a price must be paid. To do the right thing and do things right takes a sustained effort. This reality is perhaps most evident in the profession-of-arms where we expend blood and resources daily to maintain our nation's security and safeguard the spread of democracy in a hostile world. On the field of battle and in many deployed locations, normally simple tasks become extraordinarily difficult and often dangerous.

However, one does not have to be a combat veteran to display the mental toughness and discipline needed to be successful. What is required is the unshakable tenacity to pursue one's goals, day-in and day-out, in the face of current reality. Such reality may consist of pain, hopelessness, lack of resources, family separation or any other obstacle that causes one to struggle ... to fall. Most assuredly, we will sometimes fall. However, personal success is not gauged on winning every race, but on whether you rise each time you fall, again and again, day after day. It's tenacity that defines the true winners in life, those who run with perseverance the race marked out for them. Who doesn't cheer for the underdog athlete, the single parent or the wounded warrior who refuses to give up in the face of overwhelming odds, even though the struggle seems interminable? They don't push forward for the fun of it, but because they have a commitment to their team, their family, their nation and themselves.

So is my job fun? No, it's more than that. I consider it a blessing ... a satisfying avenue to put my abilities to the test in the service of others. How fortunate we all are to live in a country that values that ideal. Cherish your successes, no matter how big or small, but remember fulfillment comes from the process of overcoming adversity. Run with endurance so you can finish the race and honorably complete each task set before you.