Pioneer Christian Monthly - September, 1979

What You Hand Finds To Do..
Peter J. Yff

September is the "return to normal" month. It's the time when the kids go back to school, when churches resume the full programme for fall, when Labour Day has provide portunity and occasion spokes-persons for Labour Management to comment on the fitting rewards of toil and the appropriate obligation of the toiler.

One word describes an approach which suits every kind of work That word is "enthusiasm". The writer of Ecclesiastes put it this way, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might;" (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Altogether too many people do their work with as little effort as possible. Altogether too may focus their thought and desire on the times when work is not on the agenda, be it week-end or holiday. Were life to be all week-end and all holiday we would find it both frustrating and impossible. Work is something not only necessary, it is desirable as well. The something for nothing" syndrome has infected much of modern life, and we have been the losers for it. Contestants in the game shows may make thousands in a few minutes or a few programs, but most of us need to work for what we get, and that's not all bad.

Enthusiasm for work means that you will like to work, to be a productive person. Laziness is not only destructive of the personality, it is downright sinful. Obviously, being enthusiastic begins within yourself. It will relate to the attitude you have over your job. If you see it as contributing to some good end product, or as contributing to the good of society, you will see yourself as a useful person. Seeing your job as something a bit more than the source of your paycheck will help, too.

Something of the wider view is important for the whole of the labour scene, and that includes management. Too much does the worker think only of how much he can earn, and how much more he ought to get. Too much does management think of the work force as so many units of production, as so many man-hours to be utilized, and as a result, so much production, and hopefully, so much profit. Each part needs the other; each part needs to respect the other.

Many Labour Day speeches will stress the rights of labour, and the increases to which it is entitled. Management will be rather tight lipped about all of this, until of course, contract time rolls around and the negotiation teams have a go at each other.

Labour stresses the right to strike and management insists on the right to enjoy a profit. The right to strike was hard won, and few in today's world would wish to see it removed. The right to strike however does not include the right to destroy property to increase pressure, or to cut cables, or sabotage machinery. The right to strike is far less than appropriate when it concerns agencies which protect the public: we need the nurse in hospital and the cop on the beat. We need the teacher in the classroom. n such areas some form of arbitration must be arrived at, and the needs of public, or patient, or student provided for without interruption. It is impossible, after all, to put a price tag on the soothing hand and skilled touch in caring for a patient, or in keeping the streets safe, or exposure to learning process constant. The right to a profit which is both adequate and fair is also among the givens in our society. This . right does not extend to gouging or price-fixing. It does not extend to cutting corners to providing safeguards for hazardous work.

Quite simply, each side of the equation: labour and management, makes up half of the team. Each needs and depends on the other. Both will function better when mutual respect is shown, when a spirit of working together prevails. One would think that in a country such as ours, which has the doubtful distinction of being a world-leader in frequency of strike Ur work interruption, the obvious importance of interdependence would be impressed upon all concerned, to the advantage of all concerned.

Work may tire you ... but its a kind of "nice-tired", as opposed to the weariness of boredom. Were we to see our work as a form of ministry, of serving (for that's what ministry is all about) we would approach our tasks with vigour. Performance on every level would improve.

There is another right, over and beyond the right of strike or profit. This is the right to satisfaction in a job done well. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." See your own occupation as a form of ministry which benefits people, and thereby serves God as well. If you find no satisfaction in it (and when this isn't due to your own slip-shod patterns) you aren't in the right job.

Your fellow worker has a right, too - the right of expecting that the person working next to him is a good person with whom to work.

What kind of rights were you thinking about this Labour Day?

Please click the "Back" button of your browser to return to previous page.