We’re in the fix-up-the-house mode–painting, patio repair, garden plans, floor refinishing. And I’m in redo-the-website mode, making room for the new book, pruning the outdated reading dates, changing the pictures. And nothing is easy. Well, the painting was easy for us, since Steve, painter and cabinetmaker extraordinaire, does it all so meticulously. And although the web site is still not glitch-free, Adde is on the case.
And I’m thinking, with gratitude, about how what they’re doing is not only the task at hand but, in a very real sense, making my life better. Steve, Adde, Flor, Andy who delivers the mail with noticeable kindness and professionalism, Kathy whose garden expertise brings us great pleasure–everyone whose work creates something larger around them.
The demonstrations of the fast-food workers for better pay is a reminder of how the benefits of work can’t be all in one direction. And the Poetry Foundation has a group of wonderful poems up about work. Just now, at the moment between the anniversary of the March on Washington and Labor Day I am cognizant of the beauty of work, how, done well, each job adds to the world around us.
Isn’t that what “a day’s work” mean? A chance to to notice the dignity of work well done. A chance to notice how the work of each of us can make someone else’s life better. A chance to notice.