Most people are ordinary, aren’t they? Only a few people are remembered in history. How can everyday, ordinary people can have a lasting influence and live an extraordinary life. This post is about how an ordinary person can have extraordinary influence. How we are remembered is part of our Ethos.
Only a relative handful of people live a life so remarkable that they are written in history books, or have monuments made to them.
Most people aren’t even remembered by their descendants (many wouldn’t even be able to name their own great-grandparents).
And that’s ok.
Our influence lasts in other ways than people still talking about our names generations after we’re gone.
We do have ways of memorializing the great and famous. Right now, there is much controversy around at least certain monuments and statues. Perhaps the entire concept of monuments is coming under scrutiny, but that’s a post for another day.
One place where many famous influencers are memorialized is in Westminster Abbey in London. This great cathedral holds the remains of many of the great names of British history from nearly the last 1000 years. Besides being a church where services are still held weekly, Westminster Abbey is something of a mausoleum.
Buried there are kings and queens, clerics and religious leaders. Also scientists (including Charles Darwin), poets and writers, prime ministers, and military heroes. The British “Unknown Soldier” of World War I has perhaps the most prominent place. His resting place is in the floor of the Abbey just past the grand entry.
I have toured Westminster Abbey several times, and attended services there. It is moving to be surrounded by such history. Hundreds of years of Christian worship emanate from the very stones of the building.
I was most recently at Westminster Abbey in fall, 2019
This was BC–before COVID. It was for a Sunday eucharist service. Following the service the guests were ushered out through a side cloister rather than departing back through the main entrance. This is their standard practice.
Even the side cloister is filled with gravestones and markers to important people and influencers. Perhaps they weren’t notable enough for burial in the main part of the cathedral. But hey, they’re still buried in Westminster Abbey, which is something!
I noticed a particular grave marker prominently in the middle of the floor of the cloister. This is one I had seen on prior visits to the Abbey. This time I took a photo of it (photos aren’t allowed within the cathedral, but they are within the cloister).
This gravestone memorialized one Philip Clark, plumber of the cathedral. He died in 1707 at age 43. Probably no one now knows how he died. Age 43 would have been considered a reasonably full life at the time. Mr. Clark was a midlife man, much like many of my readers.
The main thing that struck me was that amidst the notable names and influencers, the queens and kings, the political leaders, authors and others–a place of honor was given to none other than the plumber.
Everyday, ordinary people have their ways of influencing.
Where would we be without plumbers, for example? We don’t think about them until we need one. I’m not sure what plumbing was like at Westminster Abbey 300 years ago. I can imagine that it involved maintaining the drainage systems in order to preserve the integrity of the building. Westminster Abbey may not have lasted for more than 800 years without the legions of plumbers over the years.
Not all of those plumbers are honored by burial in the Abbey. But Philip Clark was. It isn’t clear what made him stand out from all of the other plumbers. Perhaps he can stand in as a representative for plumbers and regular folks everywhere.
In life, Philip Clark may have felt like he was inconspicuous and invisible. His work was behind the scenes. He wouldn’t be seen in the cathedral vestments at the head of a procession. He was a regular, midlife man. But he had his own ways of influencing. Perhaps the cathedral would not have even survived without Philip Clark and others like him.
Philip Clark’s place of honor in Westminster Abbey can serve as a reminder that everyday people are important too. They deserve appreciation, honor, and respect. There is a nobility to the kind of work that these regular people do, the way they exert quiet influence.
Most of us are more like Philip Clark than we are like the other notables buried in Westminster Abbey.
We add value to the people around us. We preserve and advance our society, and in our own ways make the world a better place. Philip Clark was honored for doing his part. Perhaps he can stand in as a representative for the rest of us.
I also think about the ways we can personally honor the other “Philip Clarks” around us. We don’t have the ability to memorialize them in perpetuity. But we can at the very least extend respect and appreciation for the ways they enrich our lives.
Philip Clark could be the cashier at the grocery store, the gas station attendant (ok, I live in Oregon where we don’t pump our own gas), the postal worker who delivers your mail, or the Amazon driver. Or perhaps your child’s teacher, or the pharmacist. Or yes, even the plumber who comes to unclog your drain. In the moment, who could be more important than that?
Let us not take these “Philip Clarks” for granted. Especially in stressful times, the people who enrich our lives deserve a smile, a kind word, and expression of thanks.
Perhaps that can be just as meaningful as having a memorial in Westminster Abbey.
To each one of you who are regular, ordinary persons, I see you. You are not invisible. Who you are and the work you do matters. You are “Philip Clark” for the people around you. Thank you for being you.
