That question came from a friend. She is a very special person spiritually. She more or less guided me when I had no one else to converse with, not about this particular subject. Yet she said that she is doing an ordinary job like any other layman. The job, she felt, has nothing to do with what she is spiritually. She is an architect, building lavish buildings and five star hotels.
So I told her a couple of stories from my other friends.
Friend A. She is working in a new business development division of a telecommunications company. Ordinary job. Hard work. Long hours. One day she said to me, “I had to get this project. Those people who work under me – they are paid on project basis. If I do not get this project, they will lose their job.”
Friend B & C. They set up a company. They hired young people – fresh graduates, people who have been in the industry for a short period. The company grew. But what they are always proud of – the one topic that they always brag to me about – is how the people have grown. They groom people and push them to another level. They help people grow.
Friend D. He wants to set up a coffee shop. Another big city thing, we thought, but not for him. He wants the coffee shop to be a place where people can get together, talk freely and discuss just about anything. He said, “If I cannot be those people, at least I provide the place where they can hang out and exchange ideas.”
You. I said to my friend. Do you realize how many people you employee when building one hotel? About 500-600 people, she said. Do you realize that you have secured jobs for those 500-600 people for the next several months? Not to mention those that will be employed to run the hotel. Not to mention how building good infrastructure will be good for the business or tourism industry in the local area.
I rest my case. What about your job?
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3 comments:
Hi Atum: you are right to say that there may be negative side to our job and perhaps my reasoning is incomplete.
The thing is I think people are already expert in looking at the negative side of stories - that is partly why we (almost) always complain. I need not add to that.
Then again, you are a phylosophy student, right? You must know better than I do that positive-negative, good-bad is a matter of perspective. You might even agree that there might be no such thing. It is all a process that we have to go through to find our real self.
Thanks for the visit. Best of luck for your study. May you find what you are searching for.
Thanks for the response Eva. It seems to be a present truth about philosophy that it is relativistic, and shows truth and morality to be only a matter of perspective. But this is only true from the outside looking in, as relativism is and always has been easily dismissed. I should point out that if 'it is all a process that we have to go through to find our real self' is true, you already deny relativism.
I don't think we're experts at looking at the negative side of things; I'm almost certain that we don't know what the crucially harmful aspects of our lives are - that we don't know how to criticise ourselves, or jobs and societies properly. What I hoped to find out from you was what categories you employ in guaging the worth of a job, and hopefully you can see the importance of this. I do hope you reply to me once more.
Hi Mark/Atum (is this the same person?)
I shall go straight to your question of the categories I employ in gauging the worth of a job: Geez, I don't think that much about it (some friends would strongly disagree about this).
I supposed I use my intuition more in this. Whatever feels right. Whatever I feel is "me". How the job can help me grow as a person.
Of course, every point of view is subjective and personal. Which is fine as well. We see things they way we want to see things.
There will always be 'bad' aspect(s) about everything we do. But I figure if I wait for it to be 'perfect', I might end up not doing anything at all. And we cannot go anywhere by doing nothing.
And how do you mean by "hopefully you can see the importance of this"?
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