11/9/03
Why People Work
	In the realm of the 21st century, mankind is obsessed with working. The vast complexity of society deems it necessary that every man and woman strive for a career and with that career a life and a role in society. So the age old question is posed; why do we work? The answer is remarkably complex, people work for many reasons, perhaps it is to pay for a car, a home, schooling, or to sustain a family. Working places a dollar value on your acquired skills, understanding, and participation toward a common goal. This means that by working a person allows society to place a monetary value on themselves as individuals as well. Work provides more than mere sustenance however, more importantly it provides an individual with a purpose in life. Dostoyevsky is quoted in the Grand Inquisitor saying that, “Without a stable conception of the object of life, man would not consent to go on living, and would rather destroy himself than remain on earth, though he had bread in abundance.”(pg. 235) The literal implication of these words contends that without purpose, man would not be content to continue living even if his immediate needs were sufficiently supplied.  Above all else purpose in life gives an individual the fortitude to go on living, knowing that there is a set place for him in society.
	Now that we have established what is prominent in the mind of a worker there are contributing factors for the desire to work. There are short term goals such as attaining a certain class in society, or finding the type of work that is most conducive to ones personality and natural abilities,  and of course recognition for your work. These tasks have a relatively low watermark and are clearly delineated once we achieve them, so basically once we have reached a certain level in society we immediately are aware, and are immediately indulged in the pleasure of living that mainstay of life. It is clear to see that these goals are easily replaced when someone is poor, they strive to become middle class, when they are middle class they strive to become rich. Once one watermark is achieved the next hopeful goal takes effect on the imagination. One can clearly see how all of these contributing factors fall secondary to mere purpose. The reason being that purpose has no watermark; purpose is the want of an individual to continue living, to continue working, and to continue their search for meaning in life. Purpose is what gets a person from day to day.
	In this way for work to be successful, a worker must feel as though they are valued at work. It is important to a worker that their work is appreciated by others and with this appreciation comes a sense of pride, of self which is self-gratifying in itself. In the story “Working” by Studs Terkel, the contextualization presented shows how much what we do for a living becomes ingrained in our thoughts, ideas, and our life. We see that the Mason has become so engulfed in his work that he day dreams about stone in his spare time. He can point out every crooked brick in every building that he’s ever laid the foundation for, and he views his work as more of an art, an expression of himself rather than actual hard labor. The Mason also finds satisfaction knowing that his work will be in existence long after he is dead and gone. And so we see work gives an individual purpose and at the same time allows that individual to express himself to the rest of society. 
	The prominence of purpose over an individual is clearly evident. With the empowerment and knowledge that what they are doing is making a difference in the world and that the product of their efforts is being appreciated by all an individual may have peace of mind to continue working and living a productive life.  





















Bibliography
Moser, Joice and Ann Watters. Creating America. New Jersey: Upper Saddle River, 2002.(pg. 331-335)
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov, USA: Barnes & Noble Inc, 1995.
 (pg. 234)