[picture of the ABC studios where my father worked.... a scene showing some musicians, in his working day, they were working on a score! - I once was introduced to Ms Helen Reddy there...when she was busy recording for the ABC orchestra that day... I was in pigtails at the time! lol]
I have the most vivid memories of my [late] father dressed as fine as can be, polished shoes that glowed; hair immaculately combed, not one hair out of place, his briefcase in one hand, as he said his goodbyes. He was going off to work!
It was a way of life, and he always looked so clean, neat and brilliant every single day! I didn’t really understand where he went when I was very young, but as I grew older, I began to gain a real picture of his life as a working person; besides he’d taken me into the studios at ABC where he worked in producing music; making recordings and that sometimes included television and radio! It was all very exciting! I was in a pretty pink dress and with my hair plated neatly the day I saw him recording artist Helen Reddy who would one day become quite famous..
It was the impression he gave me connected to the whole concept of what it was to work; earn a pay check, to have high morale because you were contributing in life, paying your way etc. It marked my approach to an entire lifetime as I moved into the workforce and found out for myself the difference between a life with purpose and one where one merely sits on the sidelines…
There is something very significant about the whole concept of what it is to have work ethic. I just had a look online at basic definitions and here are some of those in relation to work ethic:
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work ethic
n
(Philosophy) a belief in the moral value of work.
The principle that hard work is intrinsically virtuous or worthy of reward.
Work ethic is a value based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. A work ethic may include being reliable, having initiative, or pursuing new skills.
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Where people only see work as a money-making thing, and not as a privilege with being able to not only contribute; but in assisting in some way in life, it can have a very negative impact.
As part of this, I recalled a prominent doctor I knew very well telling me that it was a sad but true fact that when people retired, if there was a lack of purpose there after, they would quickly sicken and sometimes die. I was very real on this, having witnessed first hand when a relative was made redundant and in a remarkably short space of time, began to drink heavily, became ill and died from a liver-related illness soon after. I was horrified at the time; being very young at the time this occurred, not really being old enough to understand the consequence of what was happening; but learning a salutary lesson about life and it’s consequence, and as I matured, it was to become more real as my comprehension grew on the importance of the whole work ethic.
From personal experience, I could not help drawing the conclusion that a great majority of people I’ve had contact with have a bleak view of work. It seems to have derogatory connotations. However, it is a simple fact that to gain money in exchange for work is vital in order to survive in life. Perhaps it is this aspect of the relation to money and work that has caused such a black shadow over the whole subject of work. Work itself is also absolutely essential; it also has an integral part in building character; in exchange in life, and on the subject of a man’s contribution to life.
It is all part of the big picture. But at a glance ~ if you take away the incentive for work; take away the ideals of work and what it means to contribute, then I can see how it is that we have enormous numbers of young kids too who leave school and then become beach bums or simply hang about on the street and end up on drugs and other less than wholesome pursuits including criminality – usually to handle the fact that drugs and alcohol cost money!
Sadly, the privilege of work has been so undermined, so maligned and equated with drudgery that we miss the most important thing of all. Just ask someone who is “retired” . . . how they feel about it now they are on the other side of their work a day world…
It takes teamwork too to bring about desired outcomes in any area in life you care to look into…
Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. ~Vince Lombardi
No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.
