Why Work? by John Miller
- By: superb
- On: 02/18/2009 00:27:59
- In: SUPERB Blurbs
- Comments: 1
Actually my lead question was: “Why work with your hands?” but some might say, “Why work at all?” Why tolerate bothersome interruptions to what otherwise might be a leisurely life? Why has working with your hands fallen out of fashion? When did doing an honest day’s work get uncoupled from the train of success?
Actually my lead question was: “Why work with your hands?” but some might say, “Why work at all?” Why tolerate bothersome interruptions to what otherwise might be a leisurely life? Why has working with your hands fallen out of fashion? When did doing an honest day’s work get uncoupled from the train of success?
We have a serious disconnect in our fast-buck, fast-paced, spin-doctored, superficial society where we want everything for nothing delivered to us yesterday via overnight express.
Work with your hands? Get real! We live in the twenty-first century! We have cyberspace, outer space, and workspace so who needs a workplace?
True we live in a different world, but some things don’t change and my point is simply this: No matter what “space” we live in, working with your hands still is foundational to a meaningful and successful life.
Consider this: What do Bill Gates, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, and Henry Ford have in common? Answer: They all learned a technical skill before success catapulted them to iconic greatness. Stated another way: They learned to work with their hands before they could do the “heady” stuff we often associate with their success.
Bill Gates programmed his first computer when he was 13 years old and famously dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft. Franklin became a printing apprentice at age l2 and learned the publishing trade hands on. Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac is still published today and he famously tinkered with everything from kites to catheters. When his eyes began to dim, he invented bifocals so he could continue to work with his hands.
Gates made the computer available to households from America to Myanmar and became one of the richest men in the world, but in a sense remained what he began at age 13—a programmer. His last title as head of the Microsoft behemoth was Chief Software Architect and he allegedly still wrote code—with his hands, of course.
Working with your hands has remained inseparable with true success down through time. And that is a good thing. Perhaps, it has fallen out of fashion with some who think success is found off-shore, or can be outsourced, or may be found in some obscure effortless formula. Not true. If one of the world’s richest men heading the world’s largest software company still worked with his hands at the pinnacle of his career we should take notice.
The work of the skilled hand remains an honorable profession that has a rich history and must be preserved. Passed from generation to generation, from father to son, from mother to daughter to improve the lives men and women around the world. Its legacy will continue long beyond the next boom or bust contrived by unscrupulous opportunists that seek riches without effort at the expense of those that are unfortunate enough to get caught in their scheme.
Why work? Perhaps Paul said it best: “Begin using your hands for honest work, and then give generously to others in need.”
Comments
Excellent points. I appreciated your examples, from Bill Gates to Henry Ford, and from Paul Revere to the apostle Paul.
Thanks for sharing this!
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