Indifference to the Dignity of Work
Post originally published in the Catholic Standard by Dawn Carpenter.
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| Dawn Carpenter |
We have all done it. We have walked past a beggar on the street. We
have purchased groceries from a cashier whose eyes we did not meet. We
have insisted on the least expensive goods available to us. We have been
impatient with a doctor when our appointment time is delayed. Some of
us have even mumbled under our breath about a fussy baby on an airplane.
What do these seemingly disparate scenarios have in common? These are
times when we fail to appreciate the importance of understanding the
dignity inherent in all forms of work.
For those of faith, we understand that God calls each of us in
Genesis 2:15—without burden—to till and keep the earth. This is a duty
inherent in who we are as mankind created in the image and likeness of
God. By our very nature, we share in the process of creation. Each of us
is called to work as a duty to God.
Pope Francis reminds us that work is fundamental to the dignity of
the human person. He explains that “work ‘anoints’ with dignity, and
that dignity is not conferred by one’s ancestry, family life or
education. Dignity as such comes solely from work. We eat with what we
earn, we support our families with what we earn. It doesn’t matter if
it’s a little or a lot. If it’s more, all the better.”
However, without an understanding of the true nature of work, we can
be indifferent to our responsibilities as workers and as beneficiaries
of the work of others.
What is work?
At a certain level, we all know what work is. We all do it. However,
for policy makers and those who study work, the United Nations 19
th International Conference of Labour Statisticians has established five mutually exclusive forms of work that can be measured:
- Own-use production work: production of goods and services for our own final use.
- Employment work: work in exchange for pay or profit.
- Unpaid trainee work: work without pay to acquire workplace skills or experience.
- Volunteer work: non-compulsory work performed for others without pay.
- Other work activities: everything else.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2013
American Time Use Survey (most recent data available), in the U.S.,
employed persons worked slightly more than an average of 7.6 hours a day
during the work week– if considered in the average are those who work
on the weekend, as well. This brief snapshot only captures the type of
work that the UN describes as “employment work.” However, we all know
that when we finish our day’s “employment work,” there is still much
more work left to do. Think about a typical day in light of this
framework. Before and/or after paid employment work– most of us will
make meals, clean and care for a home, care for and transport family
members, and volunteer our time and talents to sports teams, schools,
churches and any myriad of social or community organizations.
We work, and we work.
How should we understand work?
Pope John Paul II, in his Encyclical Letter
Laboreum exercens
(On Human Work), teaches us that work has three dimensions: subjective,
objective and social. Each dimension offers insight on not only what
work is but how we should approach it.
- Subjective dimension of work: the work, itself, is considered as an activity of the human person. Laboreum exercens
reminds us that “[a]s man, through his work, becomes more and more the
master of the earth, and as he confirms his dominion over the visible
world, again through his work, he nevertheless remains in every case and
at every phase of this process within the Creator’s original ordering.
And this ordering remains necessarily and indissolubly linked with the
fact that man was created, as male and female, ‘in the image of God’.”
- Objective dimension of work: the person doing the work is the focus
of consideration. Irrespective of its lesser or greater objective value,
work is an expression of the person doing the work—an actus personae (act of the person). In this way, the human person is the measure of the dignity of work. Laboreum exercens reminds
us again that “human work has an ethical value of its own, which
clearly and directly remains linked to the fact that the one who carries
it out is a person.”
- Social dimension of work: a person’s work is fundamentally connected
with that of other people. The fruits of work give rise to
opportunities for interaction, relationship and encounter with others.
In the Encyclical Letter Centesimus annus (Hundredth Year), Pope John Paul II reminds us that “work is work with others and work for others.”
Why should we care about work?
As people of faith, we should care about work because it is the
mechanism for the provision of our daily bread. Not only does our work
sustain us physically, but it also sustains us spiritually. It is clear
that our wages provide the resources to physically support us. However,
what is more challenging to understand is that our work (and how we
accept, respect and support the work of others), is the mechanism that
provides for the nourishment of our spirit.
Together, each human person, makes up the Body of Christ. How we
interact with each other matters to all of us. Recall the lesson learned
in in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. Each of the three
servants is given a portion (an amount based upon his own abilities) of
the master’s assets and is entrusted to be a responsible steward. Two
of the three follow the master’s instructions and make productive use of
the master’s talents. The third, out of fear, hoards the asset and does
nothing with it. The first two are praised and rewarded, and the third
is scolded, rejected and punished.
God has given mankind the entire world and all its resources and has
endowed us with intellect and reason. God expects us to use our
“talents” to care for ourselves and our families. This mandate also
means using our own work to help others be more productive and to always
be vigilant to not disregard or diminish the work of others.
The Sadness of Indifference.
During a recent press conference in anticipation of the 2015 Lenten
season, Monsignor Giampietro Dal Toso, under-secretary of the Pontifical
Council
Cor Unum (One Heart), shared an important message
about indifference that is relevant to our understanding of our
indifference to the dignity of work. Monsignor Dal Toso explains that
“indifference comes from a lack of attention to differences.”
Indifference can be understood on three levels.
- Interpersonal Level: here is where a lack of attention to the
difference between the other and myself conforms the other to my
parameters and thus destroys him. This is the scenario where the beggar
is expected to just get up and get a job—without regard for his mental
and physical health, level of education or even whether or not he has an
inadequate support system.
- Cultural Level: here is where there is a lack of awareness or an
incomplete observance of values. This is the scenario where we are so
“busy” during our shopping transaction that we do not offer a smile or
kind word to the cashier whose “menial” job does not rise to the level
of the importance of our conscience. But still worse are those scenarios
where a lack of judgment on values (where every option is viable and
anything goes) leads to the sweatshops and child labor that produces the
inexpensive goods that we consume and demand.
- Metaphysical Level: here is where there is a lack of attention to
the difference between God and man—Creator and creature. We believe that
we are God. Here is the scenario where we lose our temper when and
where we are not served as we demand.
Our Challenge.
As mankind, we have a duty to work and respect the work of others,
whether that work has high or low objective value. Its intrinsic value
is derived from its nexus to the human person doing the work. Work
honors the gifts and talents that we receive from God. We are all called
to use these talents in proportion to our abilities and resources for
our own care and benefit and for that of others.
We know that, through the introduction of sin, the duty of work is
sometimes weighed down by pain and suffering. However, in God’s mercy,
we have been given Jesus as the most poignant example of how to use pain
and suffering for its redemptive power.
So next time we are annoyed by the crying baby on an airplane, we
will remember that we are all God’s children, and that God’s work is
perpetual in all of us. Let us imitate the patience of the attentive
mother and never be indifferent to the dignity of our brothers and
sisters.
