There's an obsession with rankings. Who's number what? Who's the best? Best teams, best schools, best food, best of the best. The irony is that it's still subjective. There's typically a metric that is based on some attempted system of fairness. A dissenting opinion that is blatantly "wrong" by one may be "true"... but in the end it's his/her opinion of what's best in his/her mind. For example, a child who loves Spaghetti-O's may not enjoy the fancy Italian dish. And the greatest tasting quiche means nothing to the person who has an allergy to eggs. Ask any sports fan about a team that has become champions if the team has won completely fairly. “Best” still has unwritten stipulations. It depends on how it's measured and moreover, by whom.So what does this have to do with work? Well, it means that the best ranked job still needs to be relevant to you. If a million people tell you a position is the best job, you might still disagree. It depends on your preference - the type of life you wish to live. Now that we have cleared things on this matter we can move on.
Last spring, I talked with a friend of mine named Amy. We were talking about the uncertainty of life and that perhaps work wasn't meant to be enjoyable. Was not part of the punishment of being banished from the Garden of Eden having to toil for food?
What I am not saying is that work cannot be enjoyable. But no one can deny that no job is perfect, and that there are certain parts of work which are not enjoyable; they may just be heavily outweighed by the benefits. There are certain aspects of my current work that I really do enjoy. Although it seems as I enjoy them for a longer period, somehow I tend to get spoiled by them. Now let's pull the major points together. We already established in the last entry that a life passion must be rooted in something deeper. Well on the surface, the outlet (via a job/work) is most enjoyable for an individual when the benefits heavily outweigh the drawbacks.
I’m going to take easy way out and not try to define benefits beyond being something that is valued and likable to the person. A simple one could be the preference to being outdoors versus indoors. More likely than not, better is easiest to define. Yet sometimes it’s not when neither is better/worse, there are tradeoffs and they’re merely different. This is definitely not something easily measured.
Ok, now to answer the primary question. Shockingly enough, I think the answer is no. Work was not meant to be enjoyable… at least not by itself. What do I mean? Work must have a purpose and significance. It cannot stand firmly on its own. Think about the father who works at Wendy’s to support his family. He may not find fun in flipping burgers and frying fries for a short while but in the end it is the deeper motivation which allows him to work as hard as he does. He is not anxious to serve you a hamburger as much as he is anxious to provide a nice dinner to his wife and children. But it does for the most part it does fulfill the life he wishes to live.
Note: This seems like an unfinished entry. I’ll try to have a concrete conclusion.
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it. – Matthew 7:14
2 comments:
then what about the people who do find that their passions and their work in the same. do you think it is then too much to ask for one's passion to be in one's work, thus making it enjoyable... or are you saying that even if one makes "a living" from one's passion, the work itself is inherently only a means to a greater purpose?
yeah i'd say that latter. that the work alone doesn't provide the satisfaction but rather what it affords (money, attention, lifestyle, etc.)... i suppose i'm going against the whole, what would you do if you weren't paid to do it? i'm not sure i could provide an answer because one has to survive. only a few crazies have followed their "passions" to their death.
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