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Wednesday, May 19, 2010 ( 5/19/2010 11:35:00 AM ) DN Work. In my copy of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, there are 53 definitions. But I'm sure we all agree we know what it is, and we probably think that everyone else means the same thing we do when we use the word. But do we? Let's save that question for later. Maybe much later. What interests me is that we have removed the concept of work from the context of life. As if there were living, and then there's a thing called "work" that some of us have to do. I saw a documentary once about a tribe in the Amazon. They had no word for work. If they were chopping down a tree, it was called chopping. If they were hoeing the ground to plant something, it was called hoeing. The concept of "work" as a thing in itself, separate from the everyday activities of life, didn't exist. It seems to me that today, for too many of us, a goal of life is to live without working. As if that were possible. Work gives whatever we gain in this life its meaning. Perhaps our problem lies in a common assumption: that "work" implies having a job. But isn't it work when you make your bed? (If you actually do such an arcane and outlandish activity.) Or wash the dishes? Or go to the store to buy your food---wait a minute, I don't think that is work. Well, at least most of the time it's not. But you see what I mean. There is always something that has to be done, and that's what is considered work. And there is no such thing as living without "working" by that definition. So why distinguish it at all with its own separate definition and concept? Then there's the whole question of the value of work. We generally think of the value of our work in terms of money. I get paid so much per hour, and therefore can afford to buy so many things. But what about time? Or energy? For many of us who have jobs that we would give up in a heartbeat if we only could, the time spent to buy something means time doing something we would rather not do, which is the same as wasted. Are we really okay with giving 30 years of our life for a house? And if you decide that's okay, since you'd really rather not sleep in the rain or freeze to death in the winter, how about how much time and life-force is spent in order to have a car? A stereo? A TV? An I-Pod? Thinking of it in this way gives you a whole new perspective. And of course, there's the whole concept of an internal value to work. The old Yankee tradition of hard work being good for the soul is one aspect of this. But really what do we learn or gain within ourselves from work? I'm sure there is value in it other than monetary, but I'm still pondering all the implications, and it would take a discussion longer than a blog post to work it out to my satisfaction. Well, enough talk. I've gotta get back to work. # 0 comments Links to this post: |
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