Janus and the Janitor
Janus
Every week, Monday through Friday at 5:00 AM, when the city sleeps and the sun has not yet risen about the skyscrapers, the Janitor parks his 2001 Toyota truck in the lot underneath the office building. Puts on mask, gloves and goggles. Using his key, he enters his workplace by way of the Employee Entrance, whose door jambs and locks he sprays and wipes down. He goes to the utility closet in the beige linoleum-tiled hallway and loads up his cart with mops, buckets, brooms, paper towels, and bottles of bleach, Lysol, Pine Sol, and hand sanitizer.
He starts at the front entrance of the building, facing Market Street. The doors are 8 feet tall, made of steel and glass.With a long-handled mop and then with cloths he polishes them with disinfectant. He washes the windows, sprays them, and wipes them down again. He sweeps and then mops the entryway floors with strong-smelling disinfectant soap. Then he goes to the bathrooms. He sprays the metal doorknobs, wipes them down and makes them shine. With industrial-strength sterilizer fortifying the cleaning liquid in his rubber bucket he cleans the sinks, the faucets, and the tiled floors. He cleans the toilets. The mask itches against his right temple and he resists the urge to scratch. He has to breathe heavily through the mask. Sometimes his breath fogs up his goggles. The mask obstructs his view and he has to arch his neck to peer over it, to see what he is doing. He places clean, full bottles of hand sanitizer on every sink.
Now the elevators. He sterilizes the up-down buttons and opens the doors. He wipes the inside walls and the arm-rest bars inside. He vaccuums. He scrubs. He sprays germ-killing fluids into the air, and on the control panel. He reloads his cleaning equipment into his cart and trundles it into the elevator. Up to the next floor.
He makes sure that your building is safe. Thanks to him the virus does not linger on any surface the entryways and hallways are protected. The bathrooms are safe. The offices are spotless. Nobody will catch Covid under his watch. The doors of his building are protected.
He does this every day.
He is the Janitor.
The word “janitor” derives from the Latin Janus, the ancient roman god, Janus to be exact - god of doorways, gateways, and time.
Janus has two heads, one facing back and one forwards. We are familiar with a form of the god Janus in our New Years cartoons - the old man looking back, wearing the 2020 banner - and the new baby in diapers, looking ahead to 2021, are the two heads of Janus.
Janus guards the gateways. He protects homes, new ventures, travellers, cities ..and office buildings. Janus had to be consulted before praying to any other god. He was given tribute before any new venture. What happened at the start of a venture was an omen as to how it would turn out. Janus rules beginnings: the start of each day, each month, and each year.
January, the New Year, belongs to him.And so does the Janitor. The Janitor is an essential worker. He or she protects the doorways to our homes or our places of work. This year, if you have a Janitor in your life, pay him or her homage. Give her or him a gift. Janus, the most powerful god of ancient Rome, will approve, and bring you protection, good health, and well-being for 2021.