Why We Want to Work

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A few days ago a friend talked with me.  He has a nice job.  He got a car from office.  He goes to office to sign his name and is free to go.  He asked about my job.I said that I get no car from office.  I go to office at 9 as officially required, and sometimes at 8 if I don"t sleep well. I have to ask for leave if I want to go out.

"ome on, buddy, that" no good job.  As you gain age,you should have more freedom."Smiled my friend proudly.I was then lost in deep contemplation.

What is the standard of a good job? Free to go out at office hours? Get a car free from office? Lots and lots of money paid to our account every month, plus a big sum of end-year bonus? The list can go on and on, knocking people’s heart out.  Wow….what a nice job!  But wait a minute, what does it mean to work in the first place?  Money? Freedom?  If that is all it is about a job, I doubt why we have to work.

In my humble opinion, a good job should not only provide for you financially, it is a good haven for your soul. We as human beings are made of body and soul, or flesh and spirit.  Our flesh or body needs physical input to be comfortable, that is, simply put, money. But our soul or spirit needs far more than money. Yes, it is quite hard to understand for some people, but for certain groups, and not a small number I reassure you, it is normal as we need water and air every day.

I evaluate a job by first looking at its environment, or what is called "Corporation Culture".  A good job should make you spiritually comfortable.  You feel that you are welcomed by your workplace, that everybody smiles at you and you smile back to everybody. You should feel happy to go to office every day, not being whipped.  And the most you are thinking about going to office is NOT the salary you are going to get, but the people you are going to see, the unfinished tasks that you are going to accomplish and certainly you enjoy doing so.  This is awesome.  This is rewarding.  This is much, much more than you get a car to drive out free.

Freedom!  Yes, freedom is so important for each and every one of us.  But freedom is like the two sides of the coin.  You cannot have too much of it, and you cannot have too little. The nature of mankind, as well as all other animals, is "laziness".  We want to have an easy life.  We hate to work hard.  We wish to sit there all day and see money coming to us.  But, would we really be happy and contented if that wish came true? I doubt it.  As previously said, we are complicated animals,so complicated that we have much more complex system of emotional reactions than our dogs. We can NEVER be satisfied by material feeding ONLY.  We need feel secure and fulfilled.  How can we be fulfilled?  The only way to achieve that is that we have to feel "useful".

I want to borrow what Maslow, a renowned American philosopher and writer, said, “We as human beings have five different hierarchies of needs. Most of us are in the fourth hierarchy, moving on to the fifth--self-actualization.  Billionaires are right on the fifth.This level is a need to realize our dream about helping and serving others, on the basis of a substantial financial power.  Very few people can truly do well on the fifth.  But most of us can do well on the fourth—Esteem.  We are working for our ESTEEM!  Yes, for this esteem, we do not want money ONLY.  We have to get far more than money.

"What is esteem you are talking about?" You would start to wonder or challenge me. I may not give you a wonderful academic and professional analysis about what is esteem. But it is what constitutes every one of us,the fundamental element that makes us as a being more than just a pile of flesh.  Dogs do not have the need of esteem.  Cows do not feel the need of respect even though she gives you milk and watches you drink it up.  Dogs only have very basic emotional expressions such as ecstasy, sadness, anger. They don"t need you to tell them that how much you love them.  Cows do not need to hear you say "thank you." For them, letting you milk them is a physiological need—too much milk simply makes them uncomfortable.  But we as human beings want more. We want to get attention; we want to be recognized; we want to love and be loved; we want to respect and attain respect; we want to help and be helped; we want to communicate; we want to be aesthetically satisfied— beautiful views, exciting trips, wonderful movies, amusing circuit shows.  We are so complicated that we want much, much more than dogs and cows.  That"s why we need esteem. In one word, we want to become a creature that proactively feels useful.

"You are good for nothing."  This is a typical curse in English.  你真没用。你是废物! This is its Chinese equivalent.  Nobody wants to be valued as this.  It hurts.It gets into our heart and keeps gnawing at the softest part of our fragile heart.  Yes, we want to be useful. We hate to be called bad names as "good for nothing." We work hard and we feel proud.  We enjoy freedom of thought, of talks, of actions, of creative innovations, rather than freedom of playing it through, becoming decadent, and rotting away.  This life is just so extraordinary, just so wonderfully constituted that we would want to live it one more time if it were at all possible.  We have no time to show off, no time to be bored, no time to worry.  We just need to work and enjoy being able to work.  We are grateful for the kaleidoscopic future, which gets exciting when we just imagine about it.

To end my inspiration today, let me quote Forrest Gump said at the beginning of the movie—Life is a box of chocolates. You never know what you are gonna get.