From the time I was four years old, I understood that you WENT to work. My father, and later my mother, would get up in the morning, get dressed, have breakfast, and GO to work. My father at a newspaper and my mother at school.
As I got older, and got part time jobs, I WENT to work. In college, I WENT to work in the dispatch department of a local newspaper, behind the front desk at the residence hall, and various other jobs.
Then for the next 40 years I WENT to work. In factories, offices, in the military, I went somewhere to do my job. It never occurred to me to “Work from home.”
The Covid hit and we were required to “Work from home.” The internet made it possible to communicate instantly. Zoom calls became de rigueur. Life was so much easier. I would go days in my pajamas. No need to trek to the office, meet people face to face, and let’s face it, how many of us actually put in eight hours ‘on the job.’ How many books got read, how many dogs got walked, how many naps got taken because we weren’t “at the office.” Life was so much easier.
Now, with the pandemic in the rear view mirror, we have developed a ‘new normal.’ Work from home. Some of us can’t because of the nature of our jobs (airline pilot, for instance) but let’s face it, does a doctor resent it that he or she can’t ‘work from home.’ Is there a subliminal thought in our minds that we deserve to ‘work from home.’ After all, some do, and its easier.
Jobs are unfilled, millions of them, some critical. Airlines can’t fill pilot and flight attendants positions no matter how much they pay. Flights are cancelled because a flight attendant who flew in from Salt Lake City was too tired to work an outgoing flight. Thousands are inconvenienced because people who normally would jump at a chance to work as a pilot or flight attendant would rather ‘work from home.’
But I wonder. Is it ‘work from home.” Or not work at all. If we are supported either by our parents, or by the government, why get up in the morning. Why work at all?
In olden times, six decades ago, or so, there was this thing, call the ‘work ethic.’ Folks worked because it was a part of life. At the end of a work day, you felt like you had accomplished something. Maybe you fixed a broken sink, or put 10 cars on the road, or wrote a summary for the boss, or helped a sick person.
You worked because it was what you did. It was the ethic. It led to the “American Dream.” If you worked hard enough, you could buy a car, or a house, your bit of land. Something that was only yours. You could set your own schedule, go where and whenever you wanted. You were master of your own destiny.
During Covid we were told that we were to stay at home. We weren’t masters of our own destinies. We got used to it.
So even though there are plenty of people to fill the jobs, and ‘now hiring’ signs on virtually every building, we have been taught that its better to ‘work from home.’ We have been taught that work itself is anathema. It’s better to sit in front of the TV and cash checks from the government. Why not.
There is a feeling of accomplishment that only comes from a job well done. Whether it’s a well dug ditch, mail delivered on time, or a well crafted blog. If you haven’t experienced that feeling, get out there and give it a try.
Do you want to spend your ‘golden years’ thinking back on all those TV shows you watched, or all the video games you played? I think not.
JVH
3 Responses
Ha, and “even” the Kardashians, as those now on the Hulu tv show, work their bums off. Is it possible we lost the desire to be the masters of our destiny as working for and with the Lord and became sheeple? Just critics and observers instead of getting into the arena.
Here is to the American Dream and getting our mojo back!
Thank you JVH,
Sincerely,
Astrid
Destruction of the work ethic and massive numbers of un-filled jobs, along with the destruction of the “American Dream” and the push for government to provide a guaranteed annual income are essential elements of the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” (i.e., the implementation of world socialism). The global conference on world government held in Dubai in March 2022 was a stepping stone, as are the WEF’s annual meetings at Davos, Switzerland.
In brief, the Great Reset is just the rebranded “New World Order” so heavily promoted by the likes of Henry Kissinger, President George Bush, Sr. and of late by President Biden, all of whom have pursued the “end-run around National sovereignty” espoused by the Council on Foreign Relations in its April 1974 Foreign Affairs magazine article, “The Hard Road to World Order”, penned by US diplomat and later ambassador Richard N. Gardner.
So the lockdowns and the economic destruction in their wake should come as no surprise as yet another tactic to erode America’s economic health and thereby its sovereignty (you could add to those tactics soaring federal debt, energy dependence and deploying US troops under UN “resolutions”). As FDR said, nothing in politics happens by accident; if it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.
Yet there are still some ways out of our present quagmire: one of the first is for the American people as a whole to realize that we are not powerless; we still wield the ultimate power to ensure our own economic and political freedom by electing politicians through fair elections who actually will obey their oath to support the Constitution (which is ignored on a daily basis by elected members of both parties). A quick online search of various websites that grade senators’ and representatives’ adherence to the Constitution will reveal at a glance why we’re in our present mess.
The next way would be to let your reps know that you know their scores, and that you expect better and will be voting accordingly. And then tell everyone you know to follow suit and provide similar feedback.
Our Founders knew that only an educated, active (and moral) people could ensure their own freedom. Let’s not be the people to lose what they bequeathed us.
Joe: I agree there is a bigger plan here, it is just obvious. Karen and I were at the airport last night, got there real early so had 3 + hours to people watch. After 30 minutes Karen leaned over to me and said, do you realize everyone here without exception is dressed like crap. Karen was a flight attendant for United in the late 60’s so her expectation of airline travel is a little higher than most. We decided last night that it will not take long before everyone will be out in public and at the airport in their PJ’s and fuzzy house shoes.
Let’s see, two generations from being proud of your work and accomplishments proud of what you look like in public to work may be from home to dressing in public as you dress at home. Shows how short amount of time it takes to lose the self-esteem of a group. I actually have a well-formed theory of how this happened. It is called the shopping cart theory. We see it every day. Not something to discuss here but more than happy if anyone wants to call me directly.