Domestic Affairs:: Americans Willing to Work… But Doing What?

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aviation, cars, Chicago, climate, current-events, immigration issue, politics, Transportation

IMMIGRATION ISSUE REVIVES CONCERNS ABOUT DOMESTIC AFFAIRS?

Jobs, the economy, commerce, retail, the financial market, the service sector; all of these can be used to describe some aspect of our occupation with what we know as “work”. Of course doing work is just a matter of putting out effort for a purpose, a cause, the meeting of a goal. Work is the keelson of our nation, our real wealth in the matter of focusing action and the brain on disciplined activity in order to accomplish anything at all.

Now it is nothing the matter with someone coming from another country and wanting to work, to do something that Americans supposedly do not want to do. Our nation is built on foreign blood and on cultures and traditions and manners from all over the world. Still, there are American citizens, truly legitimately -born people within these borders who deserve every chance to get any kind of work before someone who is not a legal citizen has the chance to get the privileges that apply to honest to goodness American citizens.

As a word of caution and for the safety of women who are engaging in some risky behavior, beware of signs of “birthing houses” such as those recently discovered in California. There women come and they are paying thousands of dollars to have their babies in the United States. This presents health hazards for the mothers and the babies. SUppose something happened in transit from Asia or wherever the women are coming from. Can there be reliable help if something does go wrong? What if labor begins early, what if the baby has trouble, what if the mother has some kind of condition develop that required qualified medical help? Will it be there for them? And when they get to the birthing house, will there be qualified help for them if complications arise? Everyone who suspects there is a birthing house in their area should contact health departments and the law so that the place can be shut down, the women given proper help, and the need for birthing houses and those who run those schemes stopped immediately.

What do these women think that such a thing will do for family life? They might have their babies here but what about possible deportation and other problems? Some kind of family life that would be for those kids. They want to be citizens- come here and do it legitimately, and quit saddling true -born Americans with your problems, taxes, money issues, health and education issues and other situations. Not happy here- well go back where you came. Want to be happy here- get legitimate citizenship and do your part like every good American citizen is supposed to do. You might not be lazy; you might be industrious and willing to work, but don’t demand your “rights”. Like we do, you have to EARN what you get if you care at all about duty and responsibility. What sort of example do you think that just sitting around and demanding what you want will set for your kids?

Americans are not lazy… well, some might be, but then laziness has various and sundry causes and reasons and the like. But there should be no work that is “below” us to do. People for centuries have done “manual” labor, toiling, tilling, sewing, knitting, hewing, chopping, mixing, boiling, walking the borders, trudging the frontiers, making maps, painting and drawing for a building plan. We would not be a nation if everyone was some lazy bum; there are people who do honest, hard work every day and who are proud of that fact.

Firefighters and first responders do their work diligently; in Chicago there have been enough incidents in the past few years to make that clear. Transportation -related people do their work in so many ways: drivers educators, bus drivers, airline pilots, ship captains, makers of the implements these people use daily, such as tower ladders, airplanes, busses, trucks, ocean liners, freighters, semis, train cars and cranes. Construction workers start and finish homes, offices, apartments, condominiums, warehouses, airport runways, fire stations and police stations. We certainly have no lack of hard workers, dedicated people who clock in and out every day and have the goal in mind. From the ground up these folks are on the front lines of commerce and industry.

What is it then that Americans do not want to do, and why would we not want to do them? No job can be considered unimportant so long as there is a niche for it, a need for it, or an obviously visible sign that “something needs to be done”. Do we have reasons for not wanting to go into the farms and fields and pick fruits and vegetables? We eat them after all, so why not contribute to going out and getting them, preparing them for the table, and serving them? Do more than just consume, in other words; make an effort to the whole picture.

If we do not want to be domestics in a household, why would we not want to be? Those with certain lifestyles might require the assistance of capable men and women to make their household run efficiently, especially if they travel a lot, have young children but also have very busy business schedules, or have a large home that needs maintenance. It takes the right kind of person to be a “domestic interior maintenance engineer”. Not everyone can be a nanny, a maid or butler or chauffeur or gardener or good cook for a big household or one with heavy business or travel responsibilities. Caring for others is special; care giving is a big industry and should be supported.

Where does that leave those who beg on the streets for money and carry signs saying they will “work for food”? Laziness is it, or something else? Are they disabled, otherwise challenged, debilitated, or is it really laziness? Some of the guys I see around look perfectly capable of picking up tools and cleaning a park, a vacant lot, or a public pool. But do they find it easier to stand or sit on the streets and shake cups of coins? What do they with the money they get? Well if they are really hungry offer to buy them food; if they are not, forget about it and give your charity to someone who really wants it and will accept it gratefully.

Now if you are in a position to give people jobs, you can offer some of these people work. Talk to them respectfully, buy them a meal, offer them work and describe the terms. Sit down with them and listen to them and what they need. All they might need to cease their begging is someone to listen and to help them over a tough obstacle such as losing a job, a home, or a means of transportation. Listening is such a great tool for networking, and we can all slow down and listen to someone’s story.

What are you willing to do to make this nation better? Are you going to pick up a broom and dustpan, a rake, shovel, pickaxe, trash bags, gloves, a blower, a trowel, a hoe, something to plant a rosebush with? How will you make your community a better place to live and work and play?

There are ways… you just need to find one and go with it.

Divi Logan, Nashville and Chicago, 2013.

Obsessions on the Job: When Relating Becomes Interference

Tags

Book of Judges, Chicago, Egyptians, God, Health, Nashville, United States, Work

When you have an obsession with someone or something, it is basically an imbalance; one of thought, deed, word, action, influence, attentions on that object to the sacrifice of other and more important things, such as job tasks or house tasks.

When that happens it is time to get counseling, to talk with others, and the boss if you are fortunate to do so, if the obsessive object is where you work. Having a chat with people you trust can be as the opening of a book; once you are on the right page, that with the information you seek, you know it.

Today I went through exactly that process. The past couple of days, I sensed something was out of balance, something in physical exercise yes, something in the fleshly appetites, yes, but there were other things that muddled my brain processes, that addled and clouded my thoughts, that deeply upset my sleep, my views of work, of just about everything that I considered as vital and wonderful. In short there were signs of depression, of a mental recession of the caliber I have not been caught up in since I moved to Chicago. The first winter I was here and went through a bout of SAD, I had to battle my way through it pretty much solo, as at that time I knew very few people here who could be called upon for counseling or dealing with “the holidays” in a way that I figured would be satisfied.

I got through that few weeks by singing the hit tune “Route 66” until I was tired of it, but that did the job. I completed the seasonal job and went on to other things…and I am still in Chicago and enjoying all this great city has to offer. I am in a totally different environment now, a place I like, and I enjoy the people I work with.

The problem many people face when at the workplace is that they, well, like someone they work with a little too much, to the point of doubting, fears, worries, concerns and other mental issues that are so deep and heavy that they begin to do the worst possible thing. These ramblings of the mind and pullings at the heart start to interfere with workplace performance. In short they interfere with productivity. And if you are a worker committed to doing the best job you can, doing that which you are assigned and endeavoring to do whatever you can to make the business successful, that can be a real shocker when the truth comes out.

Obsessions are bad for workplace production, in short. You can get so hooked on a person or a task or an idea that you get on one track and lose sight of other things you can and indeed should be doing. Recently I was pretty nearly to being prodded into finding something to do because my mind stuck in a rut dealing with someone I like. Once I got to working at the different task I felt better and yes, I felt productive. There is something else, though, when one’s Christian principles are considered in such a light; obsessions are idolatrous and filled with vices and troubles, adversities and problems. Focusing too much on people or things is against what I learned as a good ideal for being a Christian.

In the Book of Judges, when the children of Israel made or followed or served images and false gods, nothing but trouble awaited them. Their rulers did evil in the sight of the LORD, they did not do right by God who had brought them out of so much trouble and fear, and they… well, they slacked on the job is what. Their work was to follow the word of the LORD, the tenets and principles given them decades and generations before when they were delivered with generous spoils from the slaving hands of the Egyptians. Those later generations did not follow rightly in the sight of the LORD, and they were called on the carpet for it. They were beset with war, death, pestilence, harshness, slavery and burned cities. They paid dearly for slacking on the job… for not serving properly the LORD who called to them, protected them and provided for them.

In this time when production is talked of as going down in some ways and going up in other ways, what turns out to be the most important way? Production of material goods happens all the time; production of a good character takes a lot longer than making a new car to sell. Building a good character takes years, decades, patience… practice constantly. It is not just going to worship and hearing a sermon and expecting to know everything and live by what the leader says straight out. You must think that being productive is what you are there at the workplace to do, or at anywhere that you have made a commitment to do something. The Israelites suffered because they slacked on the job; and I know what it means to suffer on account of slacking.

My good character principles went by the wayside because my energies were not properly focused. It is something, quite amazing really, what a poor or troubled conscience does to one’s entire being. When the causes are found out and all that ties in with those causes, be those things subtle or overt, it is then that solutions can be found – in this case to slacking on the job, or poor productivity. The obsession can be quelled, the concerns conquered, by looking at the field from fresh viewpoints.

You can always find something to do on the job. No place is too neat or organized or free of dust that something cannot be done to make it look even better. Small businesses are chock full of things to do to make the place better. Clean a window, rearrange a display case, do a window display, dust or mop or sweep. Check the mail, go pick up a shipment, or rework a clothes rack. Polish a mirror, straighten a crooked picture or call a customer to check on an order, whether or not they have received it or are satisfied with it. The fact is take after a good little phrase my grandmother uses when it seems nothing is around to do, and that is simply “do something, do something”! Or you can figure out just by looking around that, as my father says, “There is always room for improvement.”

If you are not sure that there is something you can do, ask your manager or boss if there is something they are thinking about and might need help with. There might be a task that someone else cannot do but that, after all, you can do. After all, brilliant diamonds do not mine themselves; they do not cut and polish themselves or set themselves in beautiful rings on their own. Someone has to take that diamond in the rough and turn it into something that will be wonderful and sparkling, will throw off spikes of color and brilliance and perhaps grace someone’s finger on a wedding day, or grace a gift for an anniversary. We are all of us diamonds in the rough… and we all need a little help getting trim and polished and set in the right place sometimes. There is no harm in asking for help – the stupid question is the one you do not ask. The right question is the one you do ask.

There is always room for improvement, so do something.

Divi Logan for EDUSHIRTS, Nashville and Chicago, ©2012.

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