[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 48 (Tuesday, April 16, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E549-E550]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        MANOJ ILLICKAL WINS FIRST PLACE IN ANNUAL ESSAY CONTEST

                                 ______


                           HON. PETER T. KING

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 16, 1996

  Mr. KING. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to salute a young 
constituent of mine, Manoj ``Manny'' Illickal, who is working toward 
his college degree with the assistance of the Gateway Job Corps. Manny 
recently took first place honors in the Joint Action in Community 
Service, Inc. [JACS] National Essay Contest.
  I offer for inclusion in the Record, Manny's award-winning essay, 
``How Job Corps Changed My Life.'' It's an inspiring story of how he 
learned self-discipline and the value of hard, honest work. After 
reading this essay, I am certain that you'll agree with me that Manny's 
future is limited only by how far he wants to take himself. He seems to 
have the right attitude for success.

                     How Job Corps Changed My Life

                          (By Manny Illickal)

       While my classmates were cleaning other parts of the 
     workshop, I was spending my Friday afternoon mopping the 
     office of my instructor; that is, I was supposed to be 
     mopping his office. What I was actually doing was trying to 
     figure out how best to get out of Building and Apartment 
     Maintenance, out of Gateway Civilian Conservation Center and 
     (most importantly) out of the U.S. Job Corps. I was a really 
     smart kid when it came to quitting things, probably because I 
     had a lot of practice.
       After the student-foreman had told me to mop the office I 
     asked, ``Don't you have someone who does that type of work 
     here?'' ``Yeah, we have you.'' I was rather discouraged, 
     because the floor didn't seem to be getting any cleaner. 
     Every few minutes, I would spill a few drops of dirty water 
     onto the floor, and I would halfheartedly move the mop around 
     whenever a classmate walked by the window. Mopping the floor 
     as part of my jobs was beneath me. I was a really smart kid.
       Why should I have to do this work? I wasn't even building 
     anything. Enough was enough. I was going to get my pay and 
     get out of this place so fast that they would have to change 
     their name to Getaway. I had quit better places than this 
     one, and it got easier every time. I came to Job Corps 
     because I wanted to get a good job. I hadn't come to the Job 
     Corps work. After all, I was a really smart kid who had never 
     had to work too hard when I was in school.
       Of course, I didn't really understand why being smart 
     didn't seem to help too much with my grades. Back in school, 
     I knew I was

[[Page E550]]

     smarter than most of my classmates. Whenever there was a good 
     opportunity to leave campus, I would be one of the first guys 
     gone to enjoy the time. A lot of the other guys would waste 
     their time reading over the chapter assigned for tomorrow. 
     Why do it now, since I could do it tomorrow or the day after 
     tomorrow? I didn't need to waste a lot of valuable time 
     reading textbooks. I could always catchup later. After all, I 
     was really a smart kid.
       Those guys who didn't even know how to have a good time 
     went off to college, and there I was wasting a perfectly good 
     Friday mopping my instructor's office. Actually, what I was 
     doing had less to do with mopping and more to do with leaning 
     on the mop, while I contemplated the injustice of it all. 
     That was when my instructor entered the office without 
     knocking first and when I began to think that maybe I wasn't 
     such a smart kid after all.
       I would describe what he said, but I doubt that the written 
     word would be able to express the volume properly. Also, I'm 
     not too sure how to spell all of it. Suffice it to say that 
     he got his meaning across pretty well. I figure that I might 
     as well quit right then and there, just as I had at my other 
     jobs. Why give him the satisfaction of firing me? Before I 
     got the chance, he grabbed the mop out of my hand and began 
     mopping the floor, even though he was the boss. In a minute 
     he had finished the entire office, even though it was at 
     least 15 square feet. The floor looked so good that I half 
     expected Mr. Clean to be there looking up at us. I'm pretty 
     sure that it had something to do with his putting more muscle 
     into it than I put, especially since he told me that I had to 
     put some muscle into it.
       The floor reflected so well on him that I was really 
     surprised when he purposely threw a lot of dirt on it. ``Do 
     you expect me to do your work for you? You came here to learn 
     something.'' Then instead of telling me that I was fired, he 
     told me in his own inimitable style to clean up the place 
     NOW and that there was no excuse for not doing my best. He 
     added that ``all work is a self-portrait of the person who 
     did it.'' Then he went to check on the rest of the 
     students in the shop to spread more joy.
       I was standing in an office that had a filthy floor, then 
     had a beautiful and then had a filthy floor again. What a 
     waste. He didn't need to mess up such a good job. He could 
     have left it looking great and I would have learned . . . 
     very little. There aren't that many moments in your life when 
     you feel as though everything has changed, at least there 
     haven't been that many in my life. I had grown accustomed to 
     starting some work, doing half of it, growing bored, getting 
     in trouble, losing my job and walking away from 
     responsibility. Losing and walking away from a job can get to 
     be a habit. This time I couldn't even walk away from the job. 
     Gateway's in the middle of nowhere, and the Center Standards 
     Officer stops everyone who even tries to go AWOL.
       This time I was stuck in a filthy office with a mop. It 
     turns out that I was right. If you put a little muscle into 
     it the mopping goes rather nicely. After I finished, it 
     didn't look as good as it had when my instructor did it, but 
     it did look better than it had before I started.
       My instructor had said ``all work is a self-portrait of the 
     person who did it.'' Looking back over my life. I figured 
     that it was time to stop eating crayons. I realized that 
     there really isn't any excuse for not doing my best work. 
     Losing had become a habit with me. I wanted to find out 
     whether winning could get to be a habit as well.
       I would like to discuss how I went on to becoming the best 
     Building and Apartment Maintenance student that my instructor 
     has ever had, but I would be lying. Not everything went great 
     the moment I realized that I wanted to paint a pretty 
     picture. What did change was that I didn't quit. Many months 
     later, I successfully completed the Building and Apartment 
     Maintenance program of the Home Builders Institute. For the 
     rest of my life, I'm a completer.
       As I was completing my trade, my boss told me how proud he 
     was of me. His boss took the time during a business trip from 
     Washington, D.C. to tell me how proud he was of me. Before 
     Job Corps, I was the type of guy a boss wouldn't find, let 
     alone compliment. Now they're recommending me for a Job Corps 
     college program. I'm going to work hard to be a college 
     ``completer'' too.
       I have been accepted to the university of the State of New 
     York. How has Job Corps changed my life? Before I came to Job 
     Corps, my self-portrait resembled the finger-printing of a 
     slow kindergarten student. After I came to Job Corps it began 
     to bear some likeness to a college man with a bright future. 
     I would give you more of a critique, but I need to start 
     reading NOW to get ready for college. I'm thinking about 
     taking an elective in art history. I would like to learn 
     about the work of Michelangelo, Da Vinci and my personal 
     favorite, Norman Rockwell. I'm hopeful that if I work hard in 
     school, maybe in a few years I'll be a smart man.

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