AthenaAwakened
Contributor
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2003
- Messages
- 5,338
- Location
- Right behind you so ... BOO!
- Basic Beliefs
- non-theist, anarcho-socialist
THE JOB IS THE THING
"Lord, I am just blessed to have a job."
How many times have you heard that? How many times have you said that?
How many times have you looked across a counter at a food service worker, or store cashier who wasn't smiling and polite and think, "If you don't want to be here, you should find another job. In times like these you should be thankful just to have a job at all."
Because the job is the thing, right?
The job is what we are looking for, what we should be grateful for, what we will fight for. Politicians and pundits promise and pontificate over jobs. Billionaires pat themselves on the back because "they create" jobs. Corporations get incentives and special considerations in return for providing jobs.
Because the job is the thing, right?
The job is the brass ring, the job is survival, the job is who you are in the eyes of others. The job defines you, refines you, consigns you and confines you.
The job is why otherwise grown men and women become child-like, bashful and afraid when they hear these words "I would like to see you in my office."
The job is why while your child has played soccer for three years, you have memories of seeing the last ten minutes of three games to show for it.
Because the job is the thing, right?
Now do not get me wrong. Work is a good thing, a necessary thing, even a spiritual thing. But we are not talking about work. We are talking about jobs.
Jobs. Those units of work we have compartmentalized, routinized, scrutinized and commodified. Jobs are the way employers have dressed up their need for you to do their work in a drag of fulfilling your need for security. Employers have employees believing that working for the employer is a favor the employer is doing for the employee. The opposite is the truth. The employer needs the employee, and the employee is doing this job often at rock bottom prices so it is the employee who is doing the favor.
I am reminded of Blind Tom Stringfield, my great-great-grandfather. He was born with a job. It was called slave. And his massa told him he was blessed too.
So the next time you look across that counter at the person who isn't smiling and happy and bubbling with glee, maybe it's because that person has figured out exactly who is being blessed with his or her labor.
_____________
From the Harriet T and Ida B Gun Club and Sewing Circle, this is me and I'm jessayin'
"Lord, I am just blessed to have a job."
How many times have you heard that? How many times have you said that?
How many times have you looked across a counter at a food service worker, or store cashier who wasn't smiling and polite and think, "If you don't want to be here, you should find another job. In times like these you should be thankful just to have a job at all."
Because the job is the thing, right?
The job is what we are looking for, what we should be grateful for, what we will fight for. Politicians and pundits promise and pontificate over jobs. Billionaires pat themselves on the back because "they create" jobs. Corporations get incentives and special considerations in return for providing jobs.
Because the job is the thing, right?
The job is the brass ring, the job is survival, the job is who you are in the eyes of others. The job defines you, refines you, consigns you and confines you.
The job is why otherwise grown men and women become child-like, bashful and afraid when they hear these words "I would like to see you in my office."
The job is why while your child has played soccer for three years, you have memories of seeing the last ten minutes of three games to show for it.
Because the job is the thing, right?
Now do not get me wrong. Work is a good thing, a necessary thing, even a spiritual thing. But we are not talking about work. We are talking about jobs.
Jobs. Those units of work we have compartmentalized, routinized, scrutinized and commodified. Jobs are the way employers have dressed up their need for you to do their work in a drag of fulfilling your need for security. Employers have employees believing that working for the employer is a favor the employer is doing for the employee. The opposite is the truth. The employer needs the employee, and the employee is doing this job often at rock bottom prices so it is the employee who is doing the favor.
I am reminded of Blind Tom Stringfield, my great-great-grandfather. He was born with a job. It was called slave. And his massa told him he was blessed too.
So the next time you look across that counter at the person who isn't smiling and happy and bubbling with glee, maybe it's because that person has figured out exactly who is being blessed with his or her labor.
_____________
From the Harriet T and Ida B Gun Club and Sewing Circle, this is me and I'm jessayin'