Chapter 6: Agency and Work
You’ve probably heard it said: “The only place success
comes before work is in the dictionary, and we all know work paves the way to
success. We also know sometimes it’s hard to get at a task for any number of reasons,
but work is an antidote for most every problem. One of my mother’s favorite
books is The Country Bunny and the Little
Gold Shoe, written by DuBose Heyward, published in 1939 by Houghton Mifflin
Company. The story reveals the fact that there are really five Easter bunnies,
not just one, and they have to be “the five kindest, and swiftest, and wisest
bunnies in the whole wide world, because between sunset on Easter Eve and dawn
on Easter morning they do more work than most rabbits do in a whole year.”
Mother bunnies tell their children to wish and hope and train for this greatest
of all rabbit opportunities—to work for the Grandfather Bunny at the Palace of
Easter Eggs. A little girl country bunny told everyone who’d listen: “Someday I
shall grow up to be an Easter Bunny. You wait and see!” But then she grew up,
got married, and had, “much to her surprise,” twenty-one babies! Everyone who
had heard her goal to be an Easter Bunny now laughed and made rude comments. As
it came to pass, when her babies stopped being babies, she taught them how to work.
She taught two to sweep, two to make beds, two prepare meals, two to wash
dishes, two to wash clothes, and two to sew and mend. That’s twelve. Then two with
good voices were taught to sing, two to dance, two to plant and tend a garden,
and two to paint pictures for the walls. That’s twenty. Then to the smallest, a
little boy bunny, she gave the job of seating her by pulling out her chair
whenever she came to the table for a meal, because he was the most polite of
all her children. Then news came. One of the Easter bunnies was retiring and
auditions would be held. Grandfather Bunny presided over this most exciting
event and even though the little country mother who had such aspirations was in
attendance, she knew she had no chance. After all the candidates performed
their hopping and jumping abilities, Grandfather Bunny looked around the
assembled mass of bunnies and saw little mother country bunny and her
twenty-one children, flanking her on either side. Grandfather Bunny called them
to the palace steps where he asked about her family, and as you suspect, she
was chosen to be the fifth Easter Bunny. (You’ll have to read the rest of the
story to see how the little gold shoes fit into the story.)
This story spoke truth to me as an example of how
families should be organized. Each child had assigned duties, (I was sure the
mother country bunny had a rotation system whereby everyone got a chance to
learn every job), and every child did his or her job in a timely, efficient,
and cheerful manner. Family life was simple and orderly. Since I am the oldest
of eight and the mother of eight, I’ve read this story probably a hundred times
and to some extent modeled my life after this tale of the country bunny. I took
great delight in teaching my children to work and had fun doing so. I also felt
having a large family would not prevent me from doing some pretty exciting
things in life despite being a mother of many. Even today I find fulfillment
and enjoyment in organizing my grandchildren in work projects.
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When our children were teens, I
printed out a quote from Jeffery Archer, framed it, and hung it in the
kitchen. “Never be frightened by
those you assume have more talent than you do, because in the end energy will
prevail. My formula is: energy plus talent and you are a king;
energy and no talent and you are still a prince; talent and no energy and you
are a pauper.” I once heard Mr. Archer speak in an interview. He said
the secret to his success is “work, work, work.” He has been described as
having “a quantum of energy.” Energy is equivalent to work, and those who
work hard make up for lack of talent and/or intelligence. One time Mr. Archer
was offered twenty million pounds, he’s British, to be paid over five years
by a publisher to put his name on books he didn’t write. He turned down the
offer. He said his readers would know he hadn’t written the books because he
puts so much work into them that counterfeits would be detected. He explained
his work ethic: “When I’m writing, I’m ruthlessly
disciplined in managing my time. I wake up at 5 am and start writing at 9 am.
I write in two hour intervals, followed by short breaks. I make sure I’m in
bed by 9 p.m.” He has written fifteen books over the past thirty-five years,
many of them best-sellers. Amazing achievers often work while others sleep,
enjoy leisure, or spend time with other people. Amazing achievers are often
more solitary, and not everyone has the natural ability to focus and concentrate
to this degree. Nevertheless, in critical matters, all of us need to hunker
down and work at the job at hand whether it’s earning a living or cleaning up
the kitchen. Those who don’t do their share of the work burden their families
and in extreme cases, society.
I once heard Dr. Laura tell how she
changed from being a feminist to having respect for men. She was on vacation in
New Mexico with her husband and child, touring a coal mine. As she was
experiencing the negatives of the mine, the dampness, dirtiness, darkness,
and feeling claustrophobic, she thought to herself “Why would anyone do
this?” Her awakening came. Men went down in mines, like the one she was in,
day after day, year after year to provide for their families. In an instant
she realized men work to fulfill a responsibility, sacrificing their own
comfort, their own health, safety, and whatever else they would rather be
doing for the significant yet simple purpose of providing shelter, food, and
comforts for their families. There’s a feeling among young people today that
work should be enjoyable and fulfilling, and it certainly is a bonus when you
like your job; however, work is work. Most people work at whatever they have
to work at to earn a living to provide for themselves and their families.
When I was first married, my husband worked, as he put it, as “a wheel-barrow
motor” for a construction company, and we managed an apartment house, which
included taking care of all the garbage, vacuuming the halls, cleaning the
swimming pool, and showing and cleaning apartments. Why did we do it? Because
we got free rent. My sister and her husband lived in a mortuary for the same
reason—free rent while they were finishing school. Some of our friends had
family who paid for their education; others whose family bought them their
first home. We didn’t. We worked.
I recently watched a Youtube video
titled “A Father Indeed.” It is the story of a garbage man who found joy in
his work because it provided for his family and allowed him to give service
to his community. “It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it” fits this man
perfectly, but it’s not a joke. He feels his work has purpose. His story
includes a wife who has multiple sclerosis and a son with Down’s syndrome. The
story tells how he watches for valuable items in the garbage and uses them
for his family and others. A specific example shows how he made a tricycle
for his daughter from parts he found in the garbage. He is shown emptying
vacuums at a car wash and sifting the dirt. As he takes crinkled bits of
receipts and gum wrappers away, you see coins in the bottom of the sieve. He
says something like, “Everyday people throw away money and I clean it up and
take it home.” The narrator then says for thirty-four years, this husband and
father has taken his family on vacation to southern California with the coins
he finds in the garbage. He is a father in deed. Work is about purpose. Work
is about attitude. Work is about finishing a task and finding fulfillment in
the process.
In the weeks after my third
chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer, the days crept by. I felt sicker
and sicker. I couldn’t get warm. (It was July.) What to do with long hours
when attention to anything outside myself seemed impossible? The usual
diversions of reading or listening to music no longer kept my interest. I
couldn’t work. I could barely walk from bed to bathroom. My fourth treatment
had to be postponed because my blood counts were too low. During this trying
time, I remember thinking I could not physically or emotionally endure the
last chemo treatment. I wanted to quit at three. I asked my doctor what the
statistics were for those with my diagnosis who didn’t have all four
treatments. She said she didn’t know but thought it would be a very foolish
thing to do. I was in survival mode and not enduring well. I felt bleak and
hopeless. On one especially bad day, a day when the negative voice on my
shoulder kept trying to seduce me with the idea I was going to die anyway and
giving up now would save my family and me a lot of suffering, I remembered a
video I had fallen asleep watching a year or so before. Somehow I found the
desire and energy to go to the family room, find the video, and watch Cool
Runnings.
It’s the story of a Jamaican
track star who is the fastest runner on the island of Jamaica. He trains for
the Olympic trials. During the qualifying race, he is accidentally tripped by
another runner, falls down, and fails to qualify. His attempts to have the
race rerun fail. He is told the only way he can get to the Olympics is with
another sport. He learns of a former Olympic bobsled racer who lives on the
island and finally convinces this man to coach a bobsled team. Three other
young athletes join him, and their training begins. They train exceedingly
hard and arrive in Calgary for the Olympics. No one gives this ragtag team
any notice especially when in the first race they finish last. But the next
day they do much better. In fact the announcer says they are the fastest team
yet, and if they can finish the last quarter of the race as fast as the first
three-quarters, they will break a world record. Just then the bobsled loses a
runner and with terrible jolts the bobsled is thrown upside down slamming
with tremendous force into the sides of the run. When the bobsled finally screeches
to a stop, the men appear dead. Then after a few moments the four Jamaicans
begin to move. They climb out of the bobsled and look over their situation as
the silent crowd gazes in horror. Then the track star who started the whole
thing says to his teammates, "I must finish the race." With
tremendous effort the four athletes hoist the broken bobsled up on their
shoulders and carry it across the finish line to thunderous applause. I knew
what I had to do. I wrote a big note to myself: "I am an Olympian. I
will finish my race by having the last chemo treatment." Giving up
because something is very, very hard is an excuse. Work is doing what needs
to be done when it needs to be done. My work was to see my treatment through.
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None of us, not even Jeffrey Archer, can work, work, work
without breaks and diversions. We all get stressed and fatigued. There are
times I feel worried, tense, and hassled and want to escape my
responsibilities, but I have discovered an antidote that works better than
breaks and diversions. When bad things are going on in my life, I can often find
relief and comfort in work. I take out my anxieties with vacuum and mop. I
clean windows and scrub floors. I weed flower beds and trim bushes. I clean out
closets and the refrigerator. The work releases tension and fear, even feelings
of hopelessness and despair. Work, for me, often neutralizes negative emotions,
and if nothing else, I enjoy the clean cupboards and windows and feel I’ve accomplished
something worthwhile. Thomas Jefferson said, “I'm a great believer in luck and I find the
harder I work, the more I have of it.” Thomas Edison said, “There is no
substitute for hard work.” And one of the
Ten Commandments commands work: “Six
days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work” (Exodus 20:9). “The Little Red Hen” was also a favorite book my
mother read to me and quoted from often: “Then I will, said the Little Red Hen. And she did.” Whenever there was a
task to be done I was taught to step forward and do it. My father always said, “Hard work
never killed anybody.”
I once heard a prominent man tell of a crucial experience
from his life. In his early twenties he volunteered for an assignment in
England. The work was hard and long and England was cold and damp. Then he got
sick. He became discouraged and wanted to return to his family in America. He
wrote to his father of the trials he was experiencing and of the frustration he was feeling. He confessed his
desire to quit and return home. Shortly thereafter he received a short letter
from his father that said something like, “I received your letter and have one
suggestion. Forget yourself and go to work.”
From
a very early age, children should be taught to work, beginning with taking care
of their own possessions. Capacity to work in childhood is important factor in
mental health as the children grow into the teen years. An adult’s attitude
toward work is the accumulation of his childhood and teens experiences with
work. Purpose and service are important components of work. God commandment men
and women to work, and we do work because of the intrinsic value of keeping
busy, doing something that is worthwhile and contributing, and we do feel
better about ourselves when we are involved in good work.
To
avoid longcuts:
1. Take wisdom and counsel from those who have walked
the road of life before you
2. Never believe you will be the exception to the laws
of nature
3. Know you will harvest what you sow
4. Learn the lessons of history so you won’t repeat
the same mistakes
5. Find
the power in resisting impulse, persisting, and delaying gratification
6. Develop
personal integrity and make moral decisions;
7. Know
that others see things you don’t and welcome their perspectives
8. Work,
work, work.
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