In this summer Journal entry, we were asked to explain a couple things. The first is what I define as “work”. A dictionary search will state, “work is an activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.” I would define work as “anything you put effort in, it being mental or physical.” The purpose is NOT always understood at the time you spend that mental or physical effort.
Reading the Holy Bible may be a daily chore to some. It may be an activity that can refocus oneself after a hard day at work, school or just life itself. It may help you understand who GOD is and bring you closer to him. It may give you the needed answers on what you need in life and how you should proceed to achieve those goals. It could be many things to many people, but the focus on the word is work. You may not know why you are doing it in the moment but the focus on the message can lead to many paths and many rewards.
Obviously, if you have a job and received wages as an employee for your physical labor or time, it would for sure be classified as work under any definition. There are many other activities that would fall under the correct definition of work. I volunteer time outside of my normal employment every week in order to prepare a dining room for the local Shrine Club. I have to then clean the room and remove all the decorative items after the same dinner when there are events before the next dinner. My wife and daughter typically help me with those events as well. The physical labor, our personal time, and gas money being sacrificed every week is another example of work. I attend meetings as a member of a neighborhood association, Shriner Organizations, and Masonic Lodge. It takes time from my family, but we are paid in “wages of nourishment” or “brotherly love”. I volunteer for a weekend, a couple times a year, to help clean up the neighborhood I grew up in. We ride on trash trucks, paint or stain decks and shutters, plant flowers, remove trash, etc. I help set up and execute a party in the park, dedicated to my father, a few times a year as a way to give back to the community and try to get others involved in improving our area. It takes a lot of group planning and physical labor in order to achieve all of these goals. That most certainly works.
Attending the Masonic meetings allows us to freely speak about our troubles and frustrations in life to a “brother” and we receive solid experienced advice. Some people find therapists or a close knit of friends to achieve the same results. The conversations and input are work.
My mother was a teacher all of my life. She also worked with MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving), was a driver’s ed instructor, defensive driving instructor, and even a track coach over the years. There is no doubt that any of those activities were work even when she was not financially compensated for her time.
My father was physically disabled for as far back as I have memories of him. He achieved many things in his life. He overcame near death a few times, worked a CIA operation while in the military using fake identifications, and worked two factory jobs at the same time. All of these examples and many more were never personally seen by me. He provided financially for his family through a disability check as well as another from the military. Him not being able to physically perform a normal job did create anger, frustration and depression in him though. There is pride in a man who works and provides. There are teachings that also say a man who does not work should not eat. Being able-bodied but refusing to work means you are failing your duty in life to provide for yourself and your loved ones. Since my father was forced to be at home, he redirected his focus and efforts to the neighborhood that he grew up in. He did so many things for Morningside and the surrounding neighborhoods that he was awarded the “Key to the City”, named “citizen of the year” by a local newspaper, and even a park was dedicated to him years after his death. My father was unable to perform a traditional job but was proficient in organizing, making phone calls to key individuals, and was able to drive around the neighborhood daily looking for issues, crime, or for ways to improve it.
My mother, sister, and I all volunteered for most of the activities my father was focused on. We never received financial payment for that work, but we helped improve our community and one day GOD will judge us accordingly.
Even activities such as daily chores are examples of work. Do you want a healthy relationship with your spouse and loved ones? Being a role model for my daughter takes effort and is work. Teaching her new skills, wisdom, etc. is work. My wife does laundry and cooks dinner after her paid employment most nights. She is providing a service to her loved ones and that is absolutely work. Outside of my job that I do six days a week, I also mow the grass and take out the trash. Those are not the most stressful of activities, but they are in fact work.
The second topic we were asked to write about is about our online activity. During my normal workday, I typically have a podcast playing on a headset. The ones that I seem to play most often are historical or educational in nature. That could be a commentary on a religious or historical document or an archaeological discovery. I enjoy a few politically based podcasts as the laws being written today will affect us in the future. I have always had a healthy view of debates as a way to prove a point or discover new points of view, so I also listen to interviews or debates with individuals who the world tells us that they have achieved success in life as well as those I personally feel have succeeded in life, survived horrible odds, or overcame huge obstacles. Other than those previous examples I also enjoy plenty of comedian’s podcasts. I am a serious person most of the time, so it’s a nice release to take a break and enjoy some silliness.
If I am online and not having a podcast play, I am possibly playing a game like Marvel Contest of Champions on my phone. If I’m on the XBOX I could be playing a FPS like Call of Duty or more strategy-based game like Civilization or Fallout. If I’m playing Call of Duty, I try to link up with a small group of friends who I have played with for over a decade. I have met most in person even though they live states away. It’s nice to catch up with those guys a couple times a week.
If I am not playing games or listening to podcasts, I also enjoy scrolling through Facebook to see what my friends are doing or what information they feel others should be aware of. I enjoy reading articles on google news, yahoo news, drudge report, the blaze, and a few other sites to hear the big stories being told from different points of view. It helps when trying to learn the actual truth and not just the regurgitated talking points being vomited out by most talking heads or legacy media.
Most of my communication seems to mainly come from text or social media messaging. I have met people over the last few decades that reach out to me or I to them ever so often. It takes effort to not lose people from your life when you haven’t seen them at a job or outside of work in years. We all have our own lives and our own families, but for a person to reach out and ask how you are or vice versa is important to the emotional health of us all. I hope the next generation can realize that before the tech industry or AI seemingly will take over and evolve how humans interact going forward.
I believe that I am effective in trying to learn while utilizing the internet. I can quickly progress through search engines or through sites to find the details or articles I am searching or interested in. I do not like that it has become a crutch, where if I am not able to have a noise in my ears as a distraction seems odd. We should all be able to have thoughts going in our heads instead of constant distraction. I know it is something that I am doing to myself, so I try to control some of my daughters’ online time to try and negate some of the issues I have. As a society, we are addicted to our phones. I am included in that group. I hate that it has become this way. I hope there is a better way to live in the future, but I believe it will have to be via giving up on the tech and going back to more a traditional lifestyle. Human interaction and alone time with your own thoughts to allow your brain to function as it was designed to do. We are all missing out on memory making activities with our families in order to binge watch a tv series, look at news that doesn’t affect our daily lives, or play a game as a distraction from life itself. Go outside with your family and make a memory. Try to make some positive lasting ones because at some point that is all we will be……a memory.