Writing Project 2

Can the Dalai Lama's theory on work be applied in present day America especially pertaining to minimum wage jobs?  I want to attempt to answer this question for my second writing project.  My thesis will be based on the "yes, but" answer, where I will both agree and disagree with the Dalai Lama.  I will use examples from the book Gig and my own personal experience.

Jobs that don't have the glamour, but have their benifits

Alienation in the workforce is common in every level and type of work.  However alienation is not always present in the blue collar jobs some would assume cause estrangement because of their repetitiveness.   Denise Barber, a steelworker, echos the Dalai Lama in the book Gig: "this job is no more meaningful than any other job except it means something to me." (Barber, 43)  Through Barber's involvement in the union and taking college classes at work she is not alienated from her work.  She speaks of the need "to organize to have a good work environment" (Barber, 41)   She feels challenged and has good friendships with many of her co-workers.  Barber asserts "So this is a good job.  I don't hate my job now."  (Barber, 41)

 Natasha Werther, a Kinko's "co-worker," is quick to claim that her company spends a lot of time "indoctrinating you into the Kinko's philosophy." (Werther, 72) While she recognizes this, she also admits she gets swept up in the excitement herself.  "I do it too sometimes. It really works-I think its amazing"  (Werther, 73)  She admits " It's very, very dull.  But that's kind of what I like about it." (Werther, 74)  Clearly she is not alienated from her job, despite its simplicity.  I think this is the case because she deals with the same customers over and over again and likes them.  She defines them as the type of people "that just want them to be nice to them...its so sweet." (Werther, 75)  I believe Alienation is dependent on the individual's thinking, much like the determination that a job is a calling.  I am finding myself agreeing with the Dalai Lama more and more.

"There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies.  My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness." -The Dalai Lama

Alienation

Ring, wrap, ring, ring, wrap, ring.  When I worked at a toy store I would get into this rhythm, it always varied, but it consisted of the same parts.  Ring, wrap, ring, wrap, wrap, ring, ring.  I would spend hours completing the most mundane tasks for minimum wage.  Never was I challenged or able to work creatively for long periods of time, this something Karl Marx would point to in discussing the division of labor in the workforce.  Marx believed the amount of creativity one was able to use in their jobs the more satisfied they were with their work.

Marx and Blauner each had their own theories on alienation in the workforce, and out of the two I most identify with Blauner in terms of having "a sense of meaninglessness."  I never benefited from particular good sales, or felt invested in the store.   I did not feel as though I was doing work that was all that worthwhile, for I was serving rich yuppies and their snotty children.  It can be argued that by Dalai Lama standards I should have been able to find some sort of meaning in my work, but it was overflowing with stupid trivialities I could not get past.  I have always wanted to help people and some how change the world in a positive way and working at a toy store could never satisfy this dream.  I along with people through the ages have felt alienation at work, its nothing new but I feel it can be changed and avoided.

Second grade teacher: loves those little boogers and her job!

In Gig, a collection of interviews with contemporary American workers, Katy Bracken claims she fell into teaching.  When she graduated from college she had no idea what she wanted to do.  So she moved to Chicago to dance and work as a waitress.  She asserts "That sobered me up quick" (Bracken, 480) and decided to start looking for a "real job" (Bracken, 480).  That "real job" was a teaching assistant position.  Over the years she has risen through the ranks and now has had a classroom of her own for many years. I think, even though it was not a dream of hers to be a teacher for her entire life, it is something she would now call a calling.

She teaches what she loves to kids that love her.  She confesses "I really get along with the kids this age.  And it feels a little weird, but I love their love...and sometimes I think I'm being duped, because I experience such mutual adoration-me towards them and them towards me-and that I get, like, the adult world where people don't do it it anymore" (Bracken, 483) She is helping the kids learn and finds it very rewarding.  She even goes on to say "I've been, like, redeemed by teaching.  Like was the right thing for me.  I'm a person that should be a teacher."  (Bracken, 484) She has found her calling, and even though it can be challenging and stressful at times she loves it.

Its all in how you look at it

In Bell Hook's "Work Makes Life Sweet" she writes of two different perspectives she grew up with on work .  These very generational perspectives are quite conflicting.  She describes growing up in the fifties and being told by the older generation that "work makes life sweet," that one should be proud of their work no matter what and that "there was no shame in doing and honest job."  This conflicted with what society and pop culture were pressuring for at the time.  She says "I was more socialized by the get-ahead generation that felt how much money you were making was more important than what you did to make that money." Ultimately after many years of being burned out in a job that has prestige she is more inclined to take on the older generation's idea.

I think the first approach towards work is one that compares well with the Dalai Lama's.  Both emphasize the need to respect and value one's work for it helps other in some way or another.  The second perspective Hook writes of is similar to what the Dalai Lama deems just a job. The Dalai Lama defines a job's primary motivation is just the money one can earn from completing it.  The Dalai Lama, Bell Hook and I can all agree on one thing: Its all about how you look at your work.

A Calling

According to Howard C. Cutler and the Dalai Lama when one has a job one is just working for money.  When one has a career one is working for money, but also prestige and recognition from peers.  The Dalai Lama deems a calling as " a higher purpose or meaning in one's work [that] involves being of some help to other people."  This could mean many things other than directly helping people as a social worker would, such as an engineer completing excellent work that ultimately improves the lives of others or a banker supporting their loved ones with the money they make. 

 I appreciate the Dali Lama's definition of a calling for it allows almost any type of work one does to be elevated to the status of a calling.  One might ask why does one need to think of their work as a calling, when it is not something tangible and cannot be seen by others? I believe it is good for the self: a part of good being and being content with one's place in life.  The beauty of the concept of a "calling" is the determination of work being a calling purely dependent on the individual completing the work.  This is unlike a career, for the happiness one attains from having one depends on external sources which may fail to materialize.  

Honestly I have made the mistake of only looking at my current work as just a job, and I now recognize this has been detrimental to my own happiness.  Now that I have been introduced to the idea of a calling I am going to try to reconfigure my definition of my job in my own mind.  The reason I originally looked at my internship in the university's communications department negatively is I did not see any value in my work on the schools Facebook.  However I should value my work for multiple reasons:

1) the money I am making is allowing me to go to this school, which I love

2) the improvements I have made to the school's social media may eventually indirectly help the school someday which would not only benefit me, but many others

3) I have an opportunity to pick up many new skills and while they are not directly related to the type of work I would like to do in the future, a skill is valuable no matter what and I trust that eventually I will get to use them for something I am truly interested in.