I used to be embarrassed that my mother cleaned other people's houses for a living - and it took me 30 years to realize she understood dignity better than anyone I've met since - Silicon Canals

"She looked at me like I'd lost my mind. 'Because I said I'd clean their house, so I clean their house. What's so hard to understand about that?' I thought she was missing the point. Turns out, she was the only one who got it."

"She had this whole system. Started upstairs, worked her way down. Windows got done a certain way. Floors got done a certain way. She even had a specific order for cleaning bathrooms that she swore by. My mother treated those houses like they mattered."

"Years later, when I was running my own electrical business, I'd remember that conversation. A client would try to treat me like 'the help,' and I'd think about my mother showing up every week, doing the work, never making excuses."

A person reflects on their mother's twenty-three-year career cleaning houses and the shame they initially felt about her profession. The mother approached her work with meticulous systems and pride, treating each job as important regardless of the clients' wealth or status. When asked why she cared so much, she simply stated she committed to cleaning the houses properly. Years later, while running an electrical business, the narrator realized their mother possessed a fundamental understanding about dignity that transcended job titles. Dignity stems not from the type of work performed but from executing responsibilities with integrity and maintaining self-respect through commitment to excellence.

Read at Silicon Canals