I am sure we have all had an uninspiring job at some point or another during our lifetime. When I look back, being a flagman for a paving company probably tops my list. Standing there 12 hours a day with a stop sign in my hand in the blazing August sun, or the arctic chill of an early December night where keeping warm meant rubbing my numb hands together inches from the hot pavement. Lunchtime consisted of eating my peanut butter sandwich with one hand, while directing traffic with the other, and bathroom breaks were mad dashes into a bush on the sides of the miles of highway we walked each day.

I also had a job as a security officer that ranks high on my list of mundane occupations. One of my assignments was simply to guard the mail. A local union was on strike and they would not allow any parcels to pass by the picket lines, so they would have them delivered to a hotel room. The hardest part of my job was trying to stay awake. It certainly wasn’t the most stimulating thing I have ever done, but the job that I have in mind might just take the prize in the tedious department.

The type of employment I am talking about is a pizza sign holder. I am sure it has some fancy name like Marketing Response Representative, or something to that affect. Essentially, they are students standing on street corners holding up big signs advertising the special of the day: “One medium pizza for $5.99.” They stand there often lifelessly, straight-faced, with a look of sheer boredom as they lean up against a pole, or sit on the grass with the sign covering their face. The company might as well just put one of those trailer outfits on the corner. Once in awhile you might see them wave it around a little, but for the most part, you would pass by without even realizing there was someone standing there.

It was early March. Traffic was slow, and the snow was coming down so hard you couldn’t see 100 yards in front of you. The heater in my car was cranked up, and I was wearing my toque and gloves to keep warm. I was stopped at a red light, when I noticed a young man holding up a pizza sign on the adjacent corner. He was bundled up so tight you could barely see his snowy face, and his gleeful smile. Eyes closed, head bobbing up and down, arms moving in and out, and his body swayed back and forth. As the grimace on my long face grew into a chuckle, I realized this winter’s storm was his muse. Driving away, I laid into my horn with an enthusiastic approval.

I had driven by this spot many times, and never before had I took a second glance at the statuesque figures holding those advertisements. All the way home, I couldn’t get the image out of my mind, of that spirited young man. While most of us were cursing this blizzard, the cold, the traffic, the inconvenience of this night, he had chosen to make the most of it.

A week or so later when I drove by, the young man had an apprentice standing their next to him. He was showing him how to dance, and his student seemed excited and eager to learn the trade. Both of them smiling, eyes closed, waving those signs around as if there were nothing greater in the world, than to be alive and dancing on that street corner.

I would never see him dance again. I recently went into the pizza parlor to talk with the store Manager, and I inquired about that young visionary. She immediately knew who I was talking about. “Last I heard he had the travel bug, but we all love him around here,” she smiled.

Benjamin Franklin was once quoted as saying “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.” As this young man taught his friends to dance, in all his youth, he was already showing great courage and setting an example for not only his peers, but anyone watching that cold winter’s day.

We are all students and teachers in our own way. The key is to be open to learn from those of all ages, whether they are one hundred years younger, or one hundred years older. Whether through innocence, or through wisdom, each and every one of us has something to share, and those lessons can be found everywhere. Even in a simple pizza sign.