Lunch Break

Leadership comes in many forms.

Lunch break on your first day of work. You’re nervous, no one looks familiar; yet you feel welcomed. The morning was hard but you are already getting the hang of it. The “boss” works alongside offering support, and reminding you that it is more important to be patient, and safe than to be the first or fastest.

You didn’t bring lunch. You never bring lunch. In your family there has never been enough to go around. That is why you are at work. That is why you are in a foreign country thousands of miles from home. You are a teenager now, you need to help provide.

Someone slides a cooler out of a truck and hands you a sandwich with a smile. You don’t know how to speak their language and they don’t know how to speak yours, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Your smile sparks a head nod that says “you’re welcome”.

You have been working in this forest for a month. Part of a team. You work hard alongside your teammates. They depend on you, and you depend on them. You are learning to recognize the plants and animals. It hasn’t been long but you are seeing a change. Some of the areas from your first week look different. Is a change happening, or do you just feel a sense of sentimentality because that is where you started? A connection is being forged.

You are homesick. This place is very different than home. The people, this country; don’t make sense. The forest makes sense. Your work makes sense.

It’s lunch time. You love lunch. It’s a time to relax and reflect. You feel good sitting with your team under the shade of a big tree. There is a new person on the team. They aren’t from here, but you don’t know where they are from. You don’t know what to say, so you hand them a sandwich. They smile, you nod.