You load sixteen tons and what do you get?
August 21, 2008 · Print This Article
In keeping with the 1980s nostalgia that has captured some bloggers, I started thinking about one of my all time favorite movies: Joe vs. the Volcano.
And I wondered, how many people go to work and feel like the guy in our featured video?
Poor Joe. He works in a medical accessories factory. They manufacture devices that sound really uncomfortable. I’ll just leave it at that.
And his job looks like hell. I’m being literal. Bad lights that suck the life out of people. Bad bosses that bark inane orders into the phone. Electric hums. Muddy parking lots.
And people marching into work in time to the 1980s rock version of the Tennessee Ernie Ford miner’s song:
You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter, don’t you call me ‘cause I can’t go;
I owe my soul to the company store.
Here’s the good news. Work isn’t really like this. It’s not like the Office either. It’s not like Office Space. Or any of those workplace satires. Those are all exaggerated to make the point. We want to take the fax machine out and beat it with a bat, but we don’t. Not really.
Because really. Work isn’t that bad. In fact, it’s better than bad. It’s good. It’s not part of the curse. It’s part of our original purpose–Adam was placed in the garden and given work before he ever messed up:
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
(Gen. 2:15)
Sure, we still live in a fallen world. But we are Christians. We’re not part of the fallen world any more. We’re in the world, but not of it. We’ve been given a new chance to get back to work in the garden. We’ve got work to do. We’ve got things to take care of.
It’s what God wants for us.
If you’re with me on this, let us know in the comments. What Garden has God placed you in?
Or maybe you aren’t with us. Maybe the last few weeks and months make Joe vs. the Volcano and The Office seem a little too realistic. Then take heart. This is NOT God’s plan.
This is NOT what God wants your workplace to look like:
Good Blog,
Question though, how can someone take this pride in the less than spectacular jobs.
When I share this with students, they are excited because they are getting into what they want.
How do you do this with some who doesn’t have much to look forward to in their job?
quite? Maybe they can’t, maybe we should take heart.
By the way, what is up with saxophones and the 80’s?
Dan
Garden. Hmm. How about a forest? The nature of my job allows me to keep one foot in the advertising world and one foot in the wilderness. Last week I was an instructor on a four-day freshmen (read, First Year) orientation experience at Seneca Rocks and Dolly Sods Wilderness Area, WV.
I can’t imagine doing something else for a living.
That doesn’t mean I haven’t had my share of bad jobs, including a telemarketing job from a suburb of hell.
I could not agree more with this post! The trouble is that many of us do not do Garden-variety work, and many of us accept that our lack of enthusiam for our work (to say the least) is part of being an adult. What would the world look like, or at least America, if those who are disgruntled and despondent about their jobs changed things. Not quit tomorrow, but embarked on a quest to find the work that they might do with satisfaction and honor which would allow them to support themselves and their families with dignity. Would our health improve? Would the divorce rate drop? Would the markets for mood altering substances radically contract? I wonder if anyone has ever done a study on the health and well being of the happily employed.
Here’s what terrifies me just the tiniest bit about this garden God’s given me:
True story.
I vigorously weeded our garden, placed everything in a trash bag, and left the bag near the back door. Days later, invigorated for gardening again, I grabbed my trash bag. Inside these delicate purple and white flowers were blooming. I’d pulled up the wrong plants.
Oh, Marcus - I love that thought. So many times we get caught up with the “have to work the soil and labor will be hard” part of the consequence of the fall. But we were never created to not work at all! I posted a little bit about this today, about how the process of labor has been enjoyable during my stay here in Maine.
And if you’re looking for 80s nostalgia, we’ve been having a fun discussion about Rick Springfield and 80s music too.
I absolutely LOVE that movie.
Finding purpose in work that you love is hard work in and of itself. I love what I’m doing now, it suits me well, and it pays well. But honestly, I busted my hump for many years in both good and bad situations to get where I am today. And it involved taking risks from time to time.
I also tried to include God in the process too, since He surely has something to do with it. Him, and my wife too!