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LABOR


Doing what you must to survive.

A remedy for idleness and inertia.

Production parceled in units of time.

Only recourse when necessity prods the child.

Activity you can occasionally exchange in bartering.

Forces you to do and be more than what you planned.

Often determines what you become whether you like it or not.

A constant battle between tedium and a sense of accomplishment.

Ideally the enjoyable, efficacious use of acquired knowledge and skills.

Determines many of our days filling them with abhorrence, forbearance and satisfaction.
 

  • Perhaps what we do and how we do it is not as important as what it makes of us.
     
  • Perhaps any effort at making money is resented when the bare essentials are elusive.
     
  • Perhaps a vital element for a happy life is enthusiasm when you wake to a day of labor.
     
  • Perhaps if you work for a wage you will always find it difficult to reconcile effort and reward.
     
  • Perhaps when work becomes oppressive drudgery it must be abandoned if at all possible.
     
  • Perhaps a lifetime's work becomes a blur next to memories of loving moments with family and friends.
     
  • Perhaps childhood challenges, responsibilities and accomplishments are essential to developing an adult ‘work ethic’.
     
  • Perhaps the ideal of enjoying your work most of the time should never be abandoned; perhaps, if it is, you risk your peace of mind being overcome by resentment.
     
  • Perhaps defining yourself by your work gives you a sense of who you are and worth; perhaps however, too much pride can stultify initiative and the cultivation of new skills.
     
  • Perhaps a periodic change of focus is essential if you are to sustain enthusiasm for your work; perhaps businesses that encourage diversity run more efficiently with satisfied, stable employees.

ESSAY ON LABOR by EDWIN O’SHEA

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