I Work Full Time

We spend so many hours doing work. It is natural that we think much about it. The boy's school motto is in Latin 'Ora et labora' . I learnt that it means 'pray and work'.

"The phrase refers to the Christian monastic practice of working and praying, generally associated with its use in the Rule of Saint Benedict. Saint Benedict viewed prayer and work as partners, and believed in combining contemplation with action.The phrase expresses the need to balance prayer and work in monastic settings and has been used in many religious communities from the Middle Ages onwards."

I do not know much about the Religious Orders and the saints associated with them. I have always found them obscure and too pious for my liking. I see great imposing pictures of them on museum walls and feel totally detached.

Yet, this thing about praying and working touched me. I grew up without religious affiliations but believe in having a work ethic, that it is a value based on hard work and diligence. Maybe it is a cultural thing. At some point in my growing up years, when a barrage of existential questions came my way, when I cried out 'what for?', I found it comforting to contemplate the possibility of having ethical or moral reasons for my striving, not just material ones. The words 'ora et labora' reminds me again of this.

Yet these days, I see an erosion of this value, I see it in young people's thinking that they should just 'work smart'. I do not like it at all - this cutting corners and manipulation that they think will help them land where they want.

Maybe sociological minds will say I have been deluded into thinking this way. After all, it serves the rich ruling elite well and fine to have an army of willing workers brainwashed to create more wealth for them at the top of the economic pyramid. I don't know. Even if it is so, so be it.