Smelly Bucket Loads of Prolific Elephant Dung…What? And Give Up Show Business?
Posted: Friday, September 02, 2011
by Christofer French
Rain Dancer Associates, LLC
A famous quote from Ecclesiastes declares: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with thy might”. The clarion call of our daily functioning, serving, loving, caring, doing and sacrificing – is what our hand is “finding to do”. Just being mindful of this bit of advice may have a palpable effect on your daily life. Joy, Purpose and Meaning could start slipping into the littlest parts of our days! Along with this famous quote, on this Labor Day Weekend, there are several universal ideas that rise to a need for a level of consideration and meditation.
The beauty of this Solomonic observation is that it is saying, without directly saying it, that we need not seek to exalt ourselves through a needless sense of the great importance, magnificence, glory, fame or noteworthiness and then cast our prayerful eyes skyward and vehemently declare how wonderful we are because of the exaltation of the seriousness of our duties. We simply need to ask ourselves as we go through life – am I doing this with my might? Or am I minimizing, becoming depressed over, putting a pittance of energy in -- something that I don’t deem as worthy of my “great calling”.
You Can Also Make What You Are Doing - Your Calling - Whatever It is
The entitled tale is one I heard from my parents, both show business people from their 20’s. A man with the carnival whose job it was to clean up the smelly bucket loads of prolific elephant dung was working away. A passerby, who saw him hip-deep in the excrement, asked, “My good man, how can you put up with such demeaning conditions? Haven’t you ever thought about another line of work?” To which the carnival worker replied, “What—and give up show business?”
This Great Quote and This Great Joke – Can Apply to Every Minute of Your Day(s).
On this upcoming Labor Day, maybe our constant search for measurement against each other can morph into a constant effort to love our labor, no matter the sense of importance that we think it might have, and at the same time, honor our human efforts and declare that all of our days are filled with the Calling of Daily Dignity.
Presbyterians and Pagans Alike --
Herman Melville, one of our great American authors had a timely observation for his readers and the public. He was a hard working guy who barely received the acclaim in his life time that one might think he deserved. His book subjects discussed the human plight, the problem of labor and self support and the inner search for meaning that we all have. As a man with big thoughts and a view of what we humans do to each other, he noted how religion tends to obscure the clarity of a more perfect vision of our frailties. One of his great quotes follows:
"...and Heaven have mercy on us all-- Presbyterians and Pagans alike-- for we are all dreadfully cracked about the head and desperately in need of mending."
-Herman Melville
Since our universal need for mending, felt variously in our hearts and minds, leads to religious and spiritual impulses, naturally those impulses lead to religious frameworks. Often times those religious ideas actually lead us to separation, conflict and intensely felt feelings of superiority and condemnation of others.
The Labor of “Tax Collecting” Becomes a Religious Issue
“The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: 'I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don't cheat, I don't sin, and I don't commit adultery. I'm certainly not like that tax collector!” This, from the New Testament.
Ever since that first religious penitent got that sense of specialness and felt the glow of sanctity shining from him, an exceedingly human tendency sprouted from his all too human heart. A voice sang its familiar song.
“I know have a standard of comparison to others.
It doesn’t matter what I do,
God still loves me more than you.
And I will always receive glory for my job.
And God will make me better than the mob.”
Labor and Social Standing, the meaning we get from our daily lives and the love that we can impart to every waking moment through the work of our hands and minds -- all of these things bundle together in that challenge we call daily life. Doing our daily labor with all of our might will give us a sense of inner purpose and meaning. And if we feel we “metaphorically” shovel manure, we can certainly even do that with a sense of purpose and dignity. However, the religion we carry around with us should be felt internally, and not a cause for social division, personal angst and moral superiority.
On this day of Labor, let us not permit “religious consciousness” and “cultural barriers” deter us from the free joy of living our lives with freedom, happiness and joy. You can’t stop someone from looking down on you for being a “TAX COLLECTOR” and making a judgment about your religious standing. However, you certainly can do your job with all your might. And, maybe we can all profit from the sheer love of our personal labor that we think of what we do as being special for us. You can also look about you on this day, as people are chomping on hot dogs, crowding beaches and frequenting our favorite places, and smile at all of our American Past Times and see us all as being human, oh so human, and as Melville declared: “We are all in need of mending!”
The Reason We Wake Up in the Morning
In Japan they call it “IKIGAI” , which means "the reason for which we wake up in the morning." Finding that is critical, especially in the United States, where so much of our ikigai seems to be tied to our careers and our ways of approaching labor.
This Japanese word carries with it all of this article's thoughts. Who we are, what we do, how we worship, what we ponder, where we are going and what we hope for all come together under the idea of “what gets us out of bed”.
I remember seeing ads on TV about getting a paralegal education and how that changed my life in a time when I needed to support four children. Upon starting this new life, my IKAGAI became enhanced and given a new texture. 25 years later, I looked back and deeply appreciated all of the ways that that education affected the life of my family and myself. I met a friend from decades ago who was an ardent believer. When we met, all he could talk about was the religious issues he was still obsessed with. When he finally got to my life, practically exhausted from sharing, he said. “So what have you been doing?” It was then that I realized that my IKAGAI had changed so much that his interest, and his “reason for getting up in the morning” was now so different from mine. I just said, “Oh, just worked and raised a family, nothin’ much.”
“Well, we have to get together and share again.” I picked up the tab and we went our ways. I mention this because we are always going to be having differences. You can think of club members, SW writers you differ with, cousins you can just leave alone, and noisy drunken neighbors for which you pray for divine intervention. Human differences are always going to be there. But don’t let those affect your love of your labor, your calling and your purposefulness.
On This Labor Day, Let us Love our particular “Show Business”
Our greater American “IKIGAI” can be summed up in this article’s intent. On this Labor Day, let us honor what we do on a daily basis, so that our might and our calling can both be personally blended together through our hearts. And even though our religions and philosophies of life seem to divide us, we admit that our comparisons and contrasts still leave us in the same boat:
We are humans. We need mending, and all of our Labor and all of our Love can contribute to the Human Goals that we all share. Thus, with an expanded “IKIGAI”, we can rise each day and if we desire to, we can laugh together at all of the different things we call – “Show Business”.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Mr. H:
Thanks for your observation. Yes, much "counseling" dripped in. Sometimes I mount the pulpit too much, trying to shove Satan to the side, and lo and behold, he's me.
I tell you that Melville quote just killed me. That guy was great.
Labor and Social Standing, the meaning we get from our daily lives and the love that we can impart to every waking moment through the work of our hands and minds -- all of these things bundle together in that challenge we call daily life. - Bingo! right on the money. Thanks
Yes. We don't have a single word in American/English like "Ikigai". It would be nice if we had one. Thanks for your comment.
Yours, CUF
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