With the advent of the Industrial Revolution first in England and then quickly following in America, more and more of the workforce transitioned into what we call white-collar jobs, where the workplace was outside and often far from the home. Because these new jobs more reflected our modern 21st-century jobs, in which the work was tedious, repetitive and the ambiguous results not always readily apparent (as compared to building carriages, homes, and other work in which the fruits of our labor are real and immediately visible), it was harder for workers to take the kind of craftsman pride and ownership in their work as their fathers and grandfathers might have in older trades that were phased out or in the process. Mr. Bennett writes to this new class of salarymen, who are alive and well today and joined by their sisters, mothers and wives. He assumes that MOST employees cannot take much joy in work that is allotted to them during their eight hours of work per day (as opposed to owners who take joy in their work not necessarily because the work engages them, but because they know the profits flow directly into their bank accounts; good motivating force).

I agree with him that most people cannot become truly (internally as opposed to portraying enthusiasm for promotion) enthusiastic when it comes to mundane, repetitive tasks that are characteristic of clerical and accounting-type jobs. Humans were not meant to be computers, and it shows in their passive resistance to such tasks, regardless of the what economy demands. Where I disagree is that one cannot approach ones job like a craftsman to some degree. You may not like the job you do or look forward to going to the office everyday, but you can try to take pride in doing a good job in whatever you do, as even banal tasks are the foundation for forming character that will come to bear in later more monumental tasks that you DO care about (I will mention William George Jordan later). I also disagree in that, one can FIND a job that has meaning, even if it doesn’t pay much. My wife is a social worker, and she approaches menial clerical tasks knowing that they are essential to the welfare of her clients, and that little mistakes can sometimes cause a lot of harm. A person CAN find meaningful work, if they are willing to take a big pay cut and restructure their lives. Those aside, all of his advice and opinions rest on sound, tested wisdom.

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