Monday, March 2, 2009

work

Welcome to the land of the sweeping generalization. This will be about my observations and a couple of ideas I am working out in my head. Feel free to weigh in. It's more fun when you do.

Regarding work ethic (I don't know what else to call it), I think my father's generation missed something big. I also think that my children's generation is missing something big.

My father's generation valued a long-term career with one company. Our nation's broken healthcare insurance system is based on this notion. You went to work for a company making next to nothing, and you were glad to do it. You got promotions and raises, and if they told you to move to Chicago, you did it. And you didn't ask your elementary-aged children if it was OK. You did what you needed to do. You progressed. You got the house, etc.. etc.. etc... you know how this goes. You defined yourself by your job or your role. "I'm a salesman." Or, "I'm with General Electric." Or whatever. Your company was a big deal to you.

My children's generation doesn't seem to think of work the same way. They seem to see work as a means to an end, with the end being getting enough money to get by. Long-term stability is no longer important. If things don't go well, they quit. Move on. Find something else. They don't seem to want to get ahead. "Get ahead of what?" they ask. They don't particularly like being told what to do. They know they can get an equally low paying job somewhere else anytime they want to. You get the picture.

I told you I was going to make generalizations. So don't start in on me about that. I'm sure you are the exception and the special one to whom the rules were never intended to apply.

My thought is that my parents' generation made the mistake of asking work to fill a place in their lives that it could not adequately fill. Some sort of satisfaction / longing kind of thing, as if work could make the loneliness disappear or make them feel like less of a failure. On the other hand, I see my kids making a different mistake. They seem to be saying that work is somehow only a necessary evil, and they have no problem criticizing or even demonizing it.They are looking for all kinds of other things to make them important. It all seems very sad to me.

I think we are missing something about the decency and importance of work. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I sense that there is another way. Some way for work ethic to fit better into the framework of our spiritual lives. Not the extremes I've presented here. Something else.

I don't have the answer. I've looked at work from both of these sides and maybe a couple of others. I'm interested in what you think. Just don't tell us how you are the exception. I'm sick of that crap and you should be too.

Have a good one.
-G (as in GReggo or Gary)