Ed, Did you know that Robert Louis Stevenson was a druggie?
REH ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Weick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ray Evans Harrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Bruce Leier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "'futurework'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Harry Pollard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 9:53 AM Subject: Re: [Futurework] The world of work > Harry Pollard: > > > > Ed, > > > > Considering the miserable subject, this was a fun post. > > > > Classically, we don't want to work - which is why we follow the "least > > exertion" principle. We want the fruits of our labor - preferably without > > the labor. > > > > So, we don't want jobs, but we take them reluctantly because without them > > we are soon hungry. Religion comes into play always to make us do the > > miserable jobs because we will get a later reward - or because it's > penance > > for our inadequacies. > > Harry, I suspect that we really do want to work, whatever the exertion, not > only because of biblical injunctions, but for many other reasons. It's > partly a class thing - not to work, not to put forward the effort, > identifies you as social trash. Parents with a sense of the importance of > their position in life encourage their kids to work from an early age not > only for the sake of independence but in order to maintain the status of the > family. Friends of ours, both professional, have a nineteen year old who > does not want to work or go on to higher education. They are appalled! > When they are not beating him over the head and shoulders they are beating > themselves over the head and shoulders. > > Despite how the Classicists put it for theoretical purposes, I'm sure they > recognized the implications of work for maintaining class and self- and > family-respect. Robert Louis Stevenson's life overlapped the later > Classists. His "Child's Garden of Verses" contains several little mantras > to help keep children moving in the right direction. For example, the poem > "System": > > Every night my prayers I say, > And get my dinner every day; > And every day that I've been good, > I get an orange after food. > > The child that is not clean and neat, > With lots of toys and things to eat, > He is a naughty child, I'm sure --- > Or else his dear papa is poor. > > Work means not only food on the table, but Godliness, cleanliness and > status. > > Ed > > Ed Weick > 577 Melbourne Ave. > Ottawa, ON, K2A 1W7 > Canada > Phone (613) 728 4630 > Fax (613) 728 9382 > > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
