The Pitcher Cries For Water To Carry / And a Person For Work (Meditations On Work — I)

Why should one work? To earn a living is the most obvious answer. Imagine for a moment that no one needs to work to earn their daily bread. Picture a world with 6 billion minds having nothing to be preoccupied with — no mortgage to worry to death, children’s education, the down payment for that shiny new car, hospital bills — everything easy and free. What would then happen to the world?

Total chaos would ensue. That, to me , is the only reason God invented work. To put it mildly, God invented work, ‘so that human beings do not become nuisance to the rest of the world’.

Having said that, in the real world, everyone is on the look out for something to do.

“The pitcher cries for water to carry / and a person for work that is real” — Marge Piercy, To be of use” — Marge Piercy in Circles on the Water.

Everyone needs a reasonable amount of challenging work to feel meaningful and fulfilled, but, what exactly is meaningful work?

“What is the need of working if it doesn’t get you anywhere? What is the use of boring around in the same hole like a worm? Making the hole bigger to stay in?” — Marita Bonner, The Purple Flower.

Does sitting at a desk and mindlessly pounding away at a back lit keyboard, staring at the vast expanse of a 27 inch monitor constitute work? Or is it taking notes, researching for recipes on web, writing a project charter, washing dishes, doing laundry or any of the endless things that we do daily ? Jenny Heynrichs has a good answer. According to her work is creativity accompanied by the comforting realization that one is bringing forth something really good and necessary, with the conviction that a sudden arbitrary cessation would cause a sensitive void, produce a loss. In other words work is what we find interesting and productive enough to invest ourselves in to the extent that stoppage of the activity might induce a temporary void at least, until we find another one that fits the bill.