Do Not Kick the Wastebasket
Weekends at a newspaper are invariably hectic.
With so many events concentrated on Saturdays and Sundays, reporters on weekend duty often find themselves on edge, burdened with the responsibility of covering several assignments in a single day. At the weekend editorial meeting attended by the Sunday staff, reporting assignments are distributed and stories are allocated.
Many years ago, a small incident erupted during one such weekend meeting.
In the middle of the discussion, an editor and a reporter clashed over a difference of opinion. Unable to contain his anger, the reporter kicked the wastebasket beside his desk.
It was an act that lasted only a moment. But in that instant, he allowed his anger to carry him across a line that should never have been crossed.
The hierarchy between senior and junior colleagues in a newsroom has traditionally been known to be as strict as military discipline—and, in some respects, even more rigid than the bonds among school alumni. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the disagreement itself, the incident was perceived as a junior reporter openly defying a senior editor.
Afterward, the way the department heads looked at the reporter began to change.
Concerned that another emotional confrontation might occur, they became reluctant to entrust him with important assignments. He was a capable journalist, yet little by little, he found himself pushed to the margins of the newsroom.
Before long, he left the company.
Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.
Yet many people give up at 99.
They fail to endure that final degree.
Success often requires the patience to withstand that last degree. And throughout the course of our lives, patience remains one of the great virtues that leads us toward success.
— From Reporter’s Notebook by Ki Jun Kwon
Reflection of the Day
★ It takes less than a second to kick a wastebasket.
But a single second of anger can destroy the trust that took years to build. ★
[Go back to Korean version] 한국어
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