The Blessing of Being Bossed (Part 1)

How could being bossed be a blessing?! How could anyone say that?
Searching Google for the "blessing of being bossed" discloses that hardly anyone if anyone searches those words in that order. Today, no first page results included this exact phrase. Close. There is a story by Rebecca Harmon titled "The Blessing of a Bad Boss", but nothing about the blessing of simply being bossed.

"The Blessing of a Bad Boss" by Rebecca Harmon

Why not?

People usually agree, "We don't want to be bossed." Bad politicians, leaders, parents and cops make easy conversation starters. Who would want a boss anyway?

The program at the journalism school at San Antonio College grants grades and credit based on a real newspaper product. Student grades and credit often, if not always, depends on the work of other students. When I realized this, I got angry. I had trust issues with the performance of other students. Public school K-12 group assignments taught me students are lazy.

Anger quickly succumbed to the workload.

My first surprise experience with said bossing occurred day one of class when Instructor Irene Abrego said all stories required for credit would be published for tens of thousands of readers across the city. I felt stunned and vulnerable.

My second surprise experience came when my fellow student-mentor-editor Rebecca Salinas quickly scanned my first story, turned her chair to face me and said, "It's all opinion. This is not news." Bomb. Fail. Rewrite. Fail again. Rewrite. Edit again. And again. Boss Salinas' sent me back to pounding sidewalk.

My first short tiny story passed an labyrinth of editors, professors and designers half a dozen times before I saw it in the Friday's newspaper or online.

So began my first recognition of the blessing of being bossed. New reporting students dropped like flies the first month. The deadlines and bossing, interviews, editing and being asked to do another interview, rewrites, forgotten photo requests and professors complaining about boring pages with no photos and students with nothing to photograph - it overwhelmed. Being bossed like this developed skills and insights I value as priceless.

I didn't understand this group of students would prove me wrong. The Ranger students and faculty turned out to be an amazing alchemy of diverse opinions, ages, backgrounds, and talents, all of whom I witnessed giving their best. We all needed the good work of each other. We wrote, photographed, videotaped, edited, designed, discussed, debated, celebrated, got aggravated and created together. I get emotional thinking about it.

Blessed are the bossed, for they shall become better.