2005-06-11 - 11:10 a.m.
On a Yahoo group that I participate it, they were having a discussion about "work" and how many people hate it and have had such trouble "finding themselves" and figuring out their ideal, most satisfactory career. While I can certainly understand that kind of frustration and have definitely been there myself and still am there, as this discussion progressed, it began to seem that the overriding attitude of some was that the world owed them a living and what they really wanted to do was get a lot of money by having to do not very much, or only just the stuff that they enjoyed.
Finally, someone who has clearly been around and has obtained a true understanding of life instead of living in a dream world, put a stop to the downward spiral this conversation was taking by suggesting that people needed to get up off their butts and simply do SOMETHING, ANYTHING that brought in some money, because bills and debts were not going to be paid otherwise and all that would result, instead, would be a lot of self-induced emotional abuse.
Her comments reminded me of something Marianne Williamson had said about careers and earning money that I liked a lot, that it is honorable to pay your bills and if you are deep in debt, you still MUST continue to make the effort to pay whatever it is that you can, each and every month, otherwise you are getting yourself into serious trouble with the universe (not to mention your own view of yourself).
She said, "Do you think the phone company is going to say,'Oh, you are doing spiritual work, oh, that's okay, we'll forgive your debt for this month.'" No, not on your life. But some people definitely do think that way, that "work" is for "other" people, but they, somehow, are "special."The more experienced poster who had come into the discussion like the voice of reason ended her post with the suggestion that those others "grow up."So,a poster named Ed, a poster whose thoughts I appreciate, suggested that people in this position should do housework for a living, and he offered some good justifying arguments, too, one of which, that I think is a good one, is that usually you can be your own boss. And I honestly think that except for the most lazy of people among us, it isn't WORK so much that people hate (I mean, after all, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve worked, which impressed me as child), but doing OTHER people's work that is the problem. Doing their OWN work is actually a pleasure.I wrote a response to Ed's post, and then liked it enough that I thought it might be a good entry here, so here it is:Good suggestions here, Ed. It makes me think that the realm of yard work might also fit into this kind of thing, which is something I have done and enjoyed. In my latter teen years, I did a lot of yard work in the neighborhood in which I grew up. Also, when I was in my 30s, a friend of mine and I vagabonded around the U.S for many months and whenever we needed to earn some more money so that we could continue travelling, we'd find ourselves connecting with people, usually elderly people or widows who didn't have a man in the house, and we'd do things like mow lawns, paint fences, clear out weeds, install TV antennas, replace broken windows, straighten up garages, split several cords of wood, etc. To be sure, helping widows wasn't a huge money earner, but we did earn what we needed and also got some good meals and met some cool people and really had a lot of fun--my friend was a perfect work-companion who shared with me a very high work ethic (i.e., people really got their money's worth from us) and we'd laugh and sing songs and make up stories--your body works, but your mind and heart are free. Also, there were some surprising rewards, such as at one lonely cabin deep in the woods in Maine where winter was rapidly descending and firewood was their only source of heat and they also used it as fuel for cooking.
Who lived there was a young mother with her little boy and her elderly mother. They had their entire winter's worth of firewood, but none of it was split yet. The mother used to split all her own wood, but she had broken her arm and now wasn't able to do it. We never did find out what had happened to her husband, but we figured that due to one reason or another, he had "split".The reward was the little boy, who was beside himself with excitement and joy over having these two "men" over at his house. Even though it was rainy and chilly weather, he spent all day outside with us, just hanging around us, watching us work and listening to our having fun with each other. His mother asked us if we minded, explaining that he hardly ever sees any males at all and he was starving for that kind of interaction. We said of course he could watch us, and we came up with little things he could do to "help".And at the end of each long work day, we were invited in for coffee and to sit by the fire so we could warm up, and the little boy acted like the circus had come to town. Both my friend and I were "intellectual new age types" (but not afraid to do physical work), and it was gratifying to find ourselves as "male role models" for a hungry little boy!More recently (in my late 40s), some things happened while I was making a major move and I ended up on the brink of homelessness for a time. But no problem, really, I ended up as a "hired hand" for a landowner in the Sierra Nevada Mountains who had 40 acres of woods and gardens. I found myself doing stuff I never even knew I could do--cutting deadwood from hugely tall evergreen trees (for days I was standing up on the roof of her pick-up truck, reaching up as high as I could with a tree saw on the end of a long pole, moving the pole up and down sawing branch after branch), preparing soil for planting, building high deer-proof fences and water-tight tool sheds, doing electrical and plumbing work, and even built a very long and beautiful rock wall on either side of the long road that went up to the house--I was very proud of that one, as the curve of the walls following the road were perfect and graceful (which took quite a lot of standing back and then readjusting the rock placements). It's amazing what you can do when you need to!The only real problem with this work (which I knew was temporary, anyway) was that for a sociable person used to working in executive offices in big cities, it was very lonely. But it was part of my life's adventure and I appreciated it and kept at it and carefully saved my money and once I could safely make the move, I quit being a hired hand and moved to Los Angeles and immediately immersed myself in the film industry--how quickly ones life can change!If I were to say what the one thing I learned from all this was, I would say that it was all part of a principle expressed by the CEO of Southwest Airlines when asked what their secret of success was. The CEO said, "It's our people and to get good people, we hire for attitude, train for skill." Most companies do the opposite, they only hire people who seem to already have expereince in the required skill, and that's it. Big mistake. I, myself, have almost never in my entire life gotten a job based on particular skills--it's ALL brand new. But my attitude does it. One can do any and everything they want to when they have the right attitude. It's like attitude is the magnetic channel that brings right into you exacty what you need in order to do the job.I'm going to say just one more thing regarding jobs, careers, and earning money. It's a two-axis decision, not just one. Most people simply think of one axis, what THEY want. However, there is a second crucial axis, and that is, what OTHERS want and need (and are willing to pay for). What you look for is the intersection between these two axes, the axis of what gives YOUR heart its greatest gladness, and the axis of what you think is the WORLD'S greatest hunger. Where these two MEET is where one should be. Then the experience is bliss for everybody.�
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