The eCrozier

Awhile ago one Thursday as I was home writing, I heard the garbage truck pulling into the lane behind our house. I knew our trash containers indoors were overflowing, so I went downstairs, grabbed them, and raced outside to get the bags to the workers before they headed down the lane. I got there just in time. I don’t know what prompted me, but after a small-talk exchange about the weather, I asked one of the workers: “Do you like your job?” He smiled, and as I recall, said something like: “Well, it stinks (literally) most of the time. It’s hard and hot in summer. But I do an important service for people in this city (he’s right, imagine what uncollected garbage for weeks would be like) and I like the people I work with. The money’s enough for me and my family to live on.” I thanked him as he and his co-workers headed down the lane.

Last month, Derek Thompson wrote a piece in The Atlantic entitled “Workism is Making Americans Miserable.” Thompson defines “workism” as “the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production, but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose.” This is a significant change that has evolved over recent generations. Thompson contends that our “conception of work has shifted from jobs to careers to callings—from necessity to status to meaning.” Not long ago, work was seen as a means to support one’s family and to “buy” free time so one could enjoy life outside of work. But this is less true today. Work has become for many people a new religion “promising identity, transcendence, and community.” With the decline of traditional religion in the U.S., “workism is among the most potent of the new religions competing for congregants.” More than ever, we are only what we do.

When work becomes our religious devotion, it’ll inevitably lead to spiritual and physical exhaustion because work can never deliver on its promises of “identity, transcendence, and community.” Consistent and repeated research has shown that people who find their identity in work, put in long hours, and keep a “job-first mentality” aren’t more productive, creative, or happy in life. They’re actually more stressed, tired, and bitter. When people hope work will provide them with a purpose in life, they’re chasing after a false god who can never be satisfied; who’ll always gracelessly demand more devotion.

This isn’t to suggest that work can’t be a source of fulfillment and joy for us. Of course it can, but only as long as our identity and purpose in life is grounded elsewhere in what’s truly transcendent, namely God’s love for us in Jesus Christ. St. Benedict often counselled young monks who came to him grumbling about not feeling close to God to “go wash the dishes in the kitchen!” He knew that if they served others in the community then their spiritual attitude would change for the better. And that brings me back to the one I now call the “Benedictine Garbage Man.” More than a lot of people these days, he seems to understand his work from a spiritually mature perspective. He doesn’t expect his work to “save” him, prove him worthy of anything, or give him some deep sense of identity. His job helps others by providing a needed service. He enjoys the people with whom he works. His job supports his family’s needs. That’s all it ever should do. He’s more than only what he does. And so are we.

+Scott