We read of Abraham Lincoln striving to complete his studies and walking some 50 miles to consult a book in the nearest library. Lal Bahadur Shastri, an earlier Prime Minister of India, would swim across the Ganges River with books on his head as a student because he could not afford to pay for the ferry.
Heather Boushey of Harvard University, in her book Unbound, argues at length that the future of a nation depends heavily on the human capital it builds up. Absolute determination to work hard for the common good is part of it.
Boushey’s research findings show that the shaping of minds, training in skills and development of habits from preschool days are more important for creativity and productivity than mere economic jugglery. Sturdy habits like grit, tenacity, and ability for delayed gratification are better production-oriented than mere academic performance.
Xi Jinping of China claims to have developed his hard-working habits and austere ways of living during the Cultural Revolution, when for over seven years he was in the rural area of Liangjiahe, lifting weights and carrying stones. Deng Xiaoping, the wizard behind the Chinese “economic miracle,” too is remembered for supporting his family of nine on 205 yuan per month. Austerity goes with audacity. Toughness pays dividends.
Jawaharlal Nehru remembers how Mahatma Gandhi sent his junior helpers and foreign-returned scholars to the villages so that they might understand the problems of ordinary people in rural areas and learn to address them with realistic solutions. No matter how tough the experience, it brought ‘meaning’ to all their political activities into which they were plunging themselves with little understanding of Indian realities.
MEANING IN WORK
People are ready for hard work, as long as they see a ‘meaning’ in it. Studs Terkel in his book Working insists that work is as much a search for ‘meaning’ as well as for one’s daily bread, for recognition as well as for cash, for astonishment rather than mere dullness. Work gets meaning when there is a ‘larger goal’, a mission, a purpose. What workers in the field miss most of all is this vision about what they do.
Does it make sense to pay higher for a work that seems less meaningful? Remember, money alone does not create ‘meaning,’ even if given in large sums. And yet the boss can be creative. John Rawls says any work can be so crafted as to be made meaningful. For example, there is greater satisfaction when one does ‘whole jobs’ using variety of skills, enjoys autonomy, receives good feedback, and feels that one is at a work that helps others.
SENSE OF BELONGING
We should shape our economy and workplaces to build a world where work offers the possibility to find meaning, purpose and pride beyond simply a pay check. This is true even in the service of caring for one’s family. In a hotel, cooks take pride in the ‘nice’ food they prepare.
Cleaners at a hospital do their work with artistic taste; for they feel, “I’m a healer.” Thus their work is linked with the larger purpose of the institution. People must not feel merely “used,” but have a voice, are treated respectfully, under same rules, can be promoted, are recognized, can develop their potential, make a difference, and are serving a nation.
Subcontracted workers do not have this satisfaction; they have no relationship, no accountability, no belonging. If you love what you do, work won’t be a heavy burden; production goes up. Give dignity to your labor; you give dignity to yourself.
Better-educated have more job satisfaction and better health. An Oxford research found a conclusive link between productivity and happiness. Ford’s workers were taught to keep their house clean, follow a healthy diet, avoid drinking, bathe, and be assimilated into American culture. Again, workers should have the opportunity to socialize. They are building up a society.
This sort of training for the toughness of life, thoroughness in performance, clearness of goals, and joy of achievement was much in the ancient monastic tradition and later missionary training. This determination was visible in the village tours and house visits of zealous missionaries, their availability for masses, confessions, spiritual guidance, counselling sessions, and annual and monthly events in the parishes.
MISSIONARY TOUGH LIFE
It was evident in Catholic associations, youth groups, and oratories. It showed its inner quality in the campus maintenance of missionary teams, transparent accounting, cheerful relationships, and austere living. The demands of the Gospel closely associated with the joy of living them were evident in and around their institutions, which consequently had a formative and evangelical quality all on their own. The toughest work was the most desired and consequently the most fruitful, for it was for the welfare of humanity.
Jesus said, “My Father is working still, and I am working” (John, 5:17). Indeed, the Father wants nothing but the eternal happiness of the human family.
