The Gift Of Work

My wife and I have a joke that she "bought low, and sold high" when we met. "You had a history of mental illness, no car, no job, no definite prospects, and you were living in a school bus," she said, "but I prayed for someone who was resourceful. Plus, I knew you were the one."

It was an experimental point in my life in Fall of 2008--trying new things, doing things I've always wanted to do, and stepping out. Part of that was trying on 'semi-retirement' at age 28, which practically consisted of quitting my job as a caseworker (without another lined up), living off my savings, and working on writing a book. I had the opportunity to do so, which I know not everyone has. I moved (from the school bus, as it wasn't, ahem, working out so well) into a spare bedroom in an apartment with a friend from grad school. I payed $150/month, had minimal expenses, and at first I enjoyed the unstructured and expansive days of leisure--walking to the donut shot for a coffee and a Boston creme, writing when I felt like it, going for walks, volunteer tutoring, and taking naps.

The fact is, though, I wasn't especially happy with this kind of idyllic setup. It wore off quick. The more time I seemed to have, the less I wrote. I wasn't spending much, but I wasn't pulling in anything either. The unstructured nature of most of my days was a little unnerving. Granted, I was unemployed for a few months by choice, but it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. By the time Debbie and I met in February of 2009, I wanted to work again, and got a job shortly thereafter.

I have always worked. I delivered newspapers, getting up at 4 in the morning before school, from age 12-18. In high school and college I waited tables and washed dishes. Summers I worked in greenhouses, propane factories, canoe rentals, architectural blueprint editing, filing, swimming pool maintenance, bar-backing--anything to stay busy and make some money.

Work is edifying. For men, it is tied up in our identity--work is what we do, what we are called to do,  and it ties in with where we draw our dignity and sense of self from. Men are nearly twice as likely to have mental health problems due to being unemployed than women. Young, single, idle men in developing countries are prime candidates for radical extremist groups to recruit. As Pope St. John Paul II wrote in Laborem Exercens,

“From the beginning therefore he [man] is called to work. Work is one of the characteristics that distinguish man from the rest of creatures, whose activity for sustaining their lives cannot be called work. Only man is capable of work, and only man works, at the same time by work occupying his existence on earth. Thus work bears a particular mark of man and of humanity, the mark of a person operating within a community of persons. And this mark decides its interior characteristics; in a sense it constitutes its very nature.” 

Physical work is especially good for me as well, both for my body and my mind. Yesterday I spent a full eight hour day sawing, hammering, and building a chicken coop and run for some chickens we got. At the end of the day I was wiped, and my back was aching from all the bending and lifting. But I felt good, and accomplished. I had created something, done something, and I had the soreness and calluses to prove it.  I felt like I earned my sleep. I tend to calculate my 'opportunity cost' with things--is such-and-such worth my time? Is it too much hassle? I was feeling this way with the chickens--it was tempting to just pay a couple hundred bucks for a pre-made coop. But I knew I had the necessary skills and tools, as well as scrap lumber I'd been wanting to get rid of. It was slightly daunting at first, as it was all new territory for me, but it got done and I'll be honest: I was pretty satisfied. If I would have balked at the hard work involved and shelled out the money for one that was already made, I wouldn't have had that satisfaction.

All work has dignity--whether you clean office suites or run a Fortune 500 company. Whatever you do, do it well. Work is good for us, good for our spirits, and unemployment for many people (but especially men) can be demoralizing and jeopardize mental well-being. I have a new appreciation for work after not working in my late twenties for a couple months. I see the opportunity to work more as a gift than an burden (though it can be that as well), and am grateful for it. Gratefulness breeds happiness, and happy people are grateful people. Whatever the work, whatever responsibility you are entrusted with, use it to glorify God, and to earn your keep.