What to Labor For

Labor Day.  If you went to mass today, you undoubtedly heard that labor is good, as is rest.  But little was probably said about what to labor for, something that has changed within my heart over the years (hopefully, as God has answered my prayers for Wisdom).

Mom and dad always said I can have anything I want --- all I had to do was work for is (and I did).  It was a good lesson, but not a complete one, since it set no guidelines on what I should want.  I think our children today have a great focus on what they should want, and even “have a right to,” and that is: anything and everything.  In a way that is similar to what I was taught, work for what you want, but I was never told, per se, that I should want everything!

Europe today has a heavy emphasis on wanting and getting everything, and because “it is a right” it is given to everyone --- by the government.  Work is not often mentioned, except in all the protection of workers’ “rights” laws, including never to be fired, have lots of paid days off, and a huge say in what your employer does.  So, companies, which don’t vote, have huge burdens, and they hire fewer, more selectively chosen people.  And college graduates have 40-50% unemployment rates.  In the U.S. when college graduates are asked about their plans, they say: “Well, I’m going to get a job and …,” while in Europe they say: “Well, that depends ….”  There are many people in Europe who choose to never work, and overall unemployment is 20% in many areas.

Here we still say, as God said: “Labor is good.”

My parents told me I had to work for things I wanted.  In Wisdom, I’ve come to want less, and have realized I now have much more than I need.  Need versus want, that lesson was never taught to me, nor sadly is it taught today.  Today we teach children they can want --- and “have a right to” --- anything, and get it, even to getting a different sex!

The Gospel today talked about the rich man being asked by Jesus to give up his riches.  He wasn’t asked to give up everything, for to give up all his gifts would include giving up his life, God’s greatest gift of all to him.  No, he was only asked to give up what he didn’t need.

What should we labor for?  First for our needs, and then for the needs of others; that is where the Gospel asked the rich man to give his excess riches --- whether money, time, or prayer.

There were only two Great Commandments.  How often we forget the second, and we must labor for it.

The plaque which hangs in my stairwell reminds me each day:

It is not enough merely to exist.
It’s not enough to support my family:
I do my work well, I’m a good father,
husband, and churchgoer.

That’s all very well.  But you must
do something more.  Seek always
to do some good, somewhere.

Every man has to seek in his own
way to realize his true worth.
You must give some time to your
fellow man, even if it’s a little thing.

Do something for which you
get no pay but the privilege of
doing it.  For remember, you don’t
live in a world all your own.
Your brothers are here too.

-          Albert Schweitzer