Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work

Issan Koyama talks to his spouse, Paul Boos, about his work as a hospice chaplain. When Issan left Japan, he first worked in the fashion industry and then ended up in New York during the 1980s AIDS epidemic. There, he saw the lack of care and comfort given to men and women dying of AIDS and began volunteering in an AIDS ward.

Eventually, he learned about a Zen Buddhist monk in San Francisco running an AIDS hospice and went to help. By the time he arrived, the monk had died, but he stayed and joined the Zen Hospice Project. Issan became an ordained Buddhist priest and returned to New York to work in hospice care professionally. He says that he feels the energy of each person who passes away and is privileged to be part of their lives.

Kerry Davis and his friend, Ken Hopper, discuss their shared work as ironworkers. Kerry and Ken have worked together as ironworkers on the Golden Gate Bridge for 25 years. They “maintain the actual structure of the bridge, climbing in places where nobody else really goes” (121). It is an extremely dangerous job both for them––and for any passersby who might walk beneath them. They both enjoy the freedom of their job.

One difficult aspect, however, is dealing with people who try to jump off the bridge. They often talk with suicidal people and try to convince them not to jump. They sometimes even climb over railings to physically grab hold of people to stop them. They estimate they have rescued 90% of those they have gone after, and some people call them the “Guardians of the Gate” (124).

Angelo Bruno talks with his former partner, Eddie Nieves, about working as sanitation workers. They knew everybody who lived on their route, and people greeted them as they passed. One old lady living alone waited outside every day to talk to them. On Halloween, they handed out candy to the kids on their route. If they saw a woman with a baby carriage having difficulty, they’d stop to help. They saw this as an integral part of their jobs.

Angelo does not view it as work but as “going down the block to see [his] friends” (127). He recalls that when he first started working, one truck driver told him, “[G]et out of the truck. Look back. Nice and clean, right? People could walk down the sidewalk. Baby carriages could go through. Guys could make deliveries. Be proud of yourself. You did that” (127-28). Now that Angelo is retired, he misses the work and his friends along the route and insists that he would not change a thing about his life.

Veterans Crisis Hotline worker Rich Barham talks to his colleague, Nelson Peck. Rich spent over 20 years in the military, including a deployment to Vietnam and rescuing hostages during the Iran hostage crisis. He was responsible for mental health in a prison and oversaw moving the wounded. When he returned home, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Nelson also has PTSD from his military service in Vietnam. He notes that suicide is a significant problem for veterans. He wanted to help, so he developed a crisis hotline with the Veterans Association and trained every individual who works on the hotline. Eventually, Rich came to work on that hotline. He remembers helping one veteran who called during a flashback while his children were at risk in the house.

Nelson adds that he has survivor’s guilt after Vietnam, and working with the hotline gives him a sense of purpose. He survived so that he can help others survive as well.

Rowan Allen, an emergency medical technician (EMT), speaks with his former patient, Bryan Lindsay. Rowan recalls when he and his ambulance team were called to the site of a hit-and-run. Bryan, a child at the time, was hit by a van while riding his bicycle. Rowan remembers trying to keep Bryan’s mother calm by pretending the injuries were not as bad as they were, even though he was scared.

Rowan does not often learn what happens to the people he helps. However, years later, he met Bryan’s mother again, who became a nurse because Rowan inspired her. She invited him to attend Bryan’s graduation, and they all stayed in touch. Then, Rowan retired from EMT service and trained as a nurse, and Bryan attended Rowan’s graduation from nursing school. Rowan states that the bond he built with Bryan is the reason he does this kind of work.

ICU nurse Michelle Alore talks to her daughter, Jenna Anderson. Michelle did not know what she wanted to do in college but eventually decided that nursing was a good career that would allow her to take care of her family. She now loves her work as an ICU nurse, doing what she can to make people feel better, deal with crises, and help families with death. She recalls helping one grieving family by making a quilt with their daughter’s favorite colors not long before the daughter died.

Jenna asks how Michelle lets go of her difficult job every day to come home to be a mom. Michelle says she accepts that she can’t fix everyone; she just does the best she can and trusts that the other nurses and doctors will as well. That allows her to come home and do her other job: being a mother. Michelle wants her children to find work that is meaningful to them, something they are passionate about and can be proud of.

StoryCorps founder and author Dave Isay speaks with his friend, Austin Chen, about her work as an ob-gyn. Austin Chen is a Taiwanese immigrant who was sent to the US by her parents for a better education. She attended medical school, and though she initially planned to become a surgeon, surgical training took too long, so she opted for ob-gyn instead. She quickly realized it was her calling.

When she started her solo practice, she decided she would deliver all her patients’ babies personally. She essentially works seven days a week, 24 hours a day. She does not feel this is a sacrifice. She does have one regret, however, which is that she was not with her father when he died.

Isay recalls her saying she wishes she did something worthy of being on The Colbert Report and tells her that what she does is very important. He calls her an incredible human being and his hero.

Lillie Cotlon and her son, Burnell Cotlon, discuss their business running a local grocery store. Together, they talk about the devastation of New Orleans, particularly the Ninth Ward, after Hurricane Katrina. They and all their neighbors lost everything they owned and lived in FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) trailers. As the community began to rebuild, there were no stores, particularly for fresh and healthy food.

Burnell was inspired to open a grocery store for the community and bought a damaged storefront. Many people thought he was crazy, but with his family’s support and many hours of work, he opened the store. At the grand opening, the first customer was an elderly lady who cried because it was a sign the Ninth Ward was coming back.

Burnell feels good that they can help bring the community back to life. He intends to keep rebuilding the Ninth Ward one business at a time.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Vito de la Cruz speaks with his wife, Maria Sefcheck-Del Paso. Vito reflects on his childhood, raised by his aunt and working with his family as migrant farmworkers. He recalls when border patrol raided the farms where he worked to arrest undocumented workers. Though he and his family were citizens, the incident scared him and inspired him to go into law.

After law school, he returned to where he started, working on employment issues, migrant housing, and migrant farmworker laws. He is also a public defender. He says that though there is a place for law enforcement, many people forget about the basic human dignity all people have and, in doing so, forget their own humanity.

Pat Hays speaks about her experiences as a policewoman. She joined the police force when Chicago formed a new unit for policewomen in 1966. Policewomen were often not taken seriously, and mostly worked in the youth division. However, she appreciated helping with issues of family abuse or neglect, having come from a “dysfunctional family” herself. She also works with female victims of sex crimes.

Eventually, she became a detective, though she continued to face sexism. Though she is proud of her work, she does not want her daughters to join the police force and face the same opposition she did. Still, she takes comfort in knowing that she helped many people, saying, “[I]t may not have been all that I would like for it to be, but I think I did some good” (162).

Dawn Maestas talks with her client, Nicole Mendoza, about working as an ink removal specialist. Dawn says that the moment she attended school for laser tattoo removal, she knew that it would be her career. One of the first things she did was remove a tattoo on herself of her abusive ex-boyfriend’s name.

Her client, Nicole, also had a violent and abusive boyfriend, who once held her hostage and tattooed his name all over her body against her will. Eventually, she escaped, and she is now in hiding with her family. Dawn’s work removing each tattoo from Nicole allows her to reclaim ownership of her own body and stop feeling like a prisoner. Dawn’s care helps make Nicole feel she is not alone, which gives Dawn pride in her work.

Barbara Butler talks about her work as a Fleet Marine Force (FMF) Corpsman. During training, she volunteered for extra medical training with the FMF, though she was told it was only for men. She and five other women joined and faced sexism and harassment. On her first field assignment, the men did not take her seriously until one Marine injured his hand and she successfully treated the wound. The men then treated her with respect and called her “Doc.”

Eventually, she trained as a surgical tech, then as an instructor. These roles would not have been available to her if she had not started as an FMF corpsman. She and those other five women were the first women to do FMF, a legacy she takes great pride in.

Ayodeji Ogunniyi talks about becoming an English teacher. He is a Nigerian immigrant who was brought to the US by his father when he was three years old. His father was a cab driver who wanted him to become a doctor, engineer, or lawyer. To fulfill this wish, Ayodeji went to college in the pre-med program. However, his path changed when his father was murdered by a group of teenage boys.

Ayodeji started tutoring kids in an after-school program to make extra money and saw that these children came from the same impoverished backgrounds as those who murdered his father. He remembers a 16-year-old boy who couldn’t read. Ayodeji taught him and healed his own grief in the process. He realized that a better and more compassionate education might prevent more boys from becoming murderers. He became an English teacher and believes his father would be proud because he instills the same principles in his students that his father taught him.