Saturday, September 04, 2010

 

THE DIGNITY OF WORK

The Dignity of Work This Labor Day 2010
By Reverend Father Thomas J. Smith
September 4, 2010


Growing up in an industrial area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during
the 1950's and 1960's, amid steel mills, coal mines, railroads and
farms made me acutely aware of the importance of work / labor and its
necessity not only to provide a living for the family but as a service
to my fellow man.


In our day, most of us have trouble hearing the ''labor'' in Labor Day
any longer -- the use of the word, that is, that distinguishes labor
from management or worker from capitalist. The very radicalism of
devoting a day to the honoring of labor's role in the creation of
national wealth has been lost to the waning of both union power and a
proud sense of class distinction. Laborers have been redefined as
''consumers,'' a category that somehow muddies everything.

Taking pride in our work or better yet, pride in the quality of our
work is fading and is a sad commentary on what we call modern times.

It must be said from the start that man's work / labor, like freedom,
is an ineligible right which is fundamental to man's existence. God
endowed man with gifts of creativity and the ability to create, build,
grow and provide for his needs so that he may fulfill his destiny in
the world order and for the future hope of the world to come. Man's
industrious and enterprising creativity adds to the natural flow of
the balance of universe by which all living things; plants, animals,
and even minerals somehow all benefit the order of nature and
existence.

Since that first labor day held on Tuesday, September 15, 1882, in New
York City, which was established to honor the worker and to celebrate
man's right to work for a just days pay for a just days work, there is
a certain pride today in being overworked, a feeling that we live in a
whirlwind of effort from which there really is no virtue in ceasing.
It is impossible to parade in celebration of that. It is only possible
to take the day off, all the way off, and to remember why it was worth
honoring labor in the first place.

While growing up in my household there was known to be a hierarchy of
order for right living. It began with God first (acknowledging the
creator being the source and beginning of all things), the family and
work. All three components made for a healthy and successful life
style which gave meaning and purpose to our existence, survival and
our future endeavors.

Work, however, was the cement that strengthened and shaped how we
could practice our faith in God, provide for our basic needs and unify
our family harmony in union with the balance of all of nature and our
fellow man.

Work / labor permitted us to not only to feed, cloth, educate and
shelter our existence but also assisted others with their basic needs
and wants as well. It made for better living.

What was lacking in ones creatively or ability to provide or create
for oneself was provided for by another who had the ability to make
available what we ourselves could not do on our own.

Farmers could not be coal miners or steel mill workers at the same
time and still be effective farmers. Nor could clergymen be effective
pastors while serving in public office. Even though we may poses many
abilities or talents as being carpenters, electricians, bakers and the
like, one or the other needs to be the main contribution for providing
for our family while relying on others to assist us with our needs
that we ourselves could not devote full time too or lack the ability
to do.

Sharing, bartering and pulling together our resources and talents
shape our family life, culture, society, our very existence. In the
final analysis, we need each other, regardless of race, color creed or
national origin, to live a good quality life so that we may be free to
worship God, live in harmony with our fellow man and to experience the
good, beauty and splendor the world, nature and God has provided for
us as well as to fulfill our destiny as the People of God, destined
for eternal life in the Kingdom God.

This Labor Day, let us be thankful for the ability to work. Let us
celebrate our right to work. And let us defend the rights of the
worker. Let us not fall into the trap of seeing our labor as something
that distinguishes labor from management or worker from capitalist.
Let us not see Labor Day as a day to the honoring of labor's role in
the creation of national wealth has been lost to the waning of both
union power and a proud sense of class distinction.


Remember we are not ''consumers,'' we are workers who build a better
life, a better world, a better world for the life to come.

In these hard economic times tangled with high unemployment and the
lack of pride and fulfillment in our work, do not settle for less than
the right to work, the dignity of work and to provide for our families
while pursuing happiness, liberty and justice for all.


Father Smith is a Roman Catholic Priest of the Archdiocese of New
York. He is a chaplain for the New York State Department of
Corrections, and is in residence as Temporary Administrator of St.
John the Evangelist Church, Saugerties, New York. He is also
associated with St. Joseph Church, Kingston, New York

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