With a positive approach to the labours of life, work need not be a burden but a joy.
‘Do a job you love, and you’ll never do a day’s work in your life’ – is how I think the saying goes.
There is much in the media at the moment about a lack of productivity on this isle, apparently we Brits lag behind when it comes to putting in some productive effort, we work long hours and much later into old age than many others and yet we seem to be inefficient in our labours. Since the pandemic about half a million members of the workforce in this country are not turning up for a shift, just over the Channel the revolutionaries are revolting at the prospect of having to work later in life. I wonder what it is about ‘work’ which is so unappealing to so many? If an economy is suffering from lack of vigour or a desire to even turn up, should a government’s quest be making the idea of work more appealing? Perhaps a starting point is to stop calling it ‘work’ (it might take more than a thesaurus to come up with a better alternative) and to stop thinking of a pension as the finish line. The irony is that the older we get, the more we have to contribute to society – a life full of experiences is an invaluable asset when it comes to productivity – why stop when you have the most to share?
Of course we ‘work hard’ at the bookshop, but I think I speak for all of us here, with a positive approach to the labours of life, work need not be a burden but a joy. Of course we’re lucky, sharing books and reading with fellow lovers of the printed word just doesn’t feel like a chore – long may we never have to do a day’s work in our lives.
Yonder See the Morning by A.E. Housman
Yonder see the morning blink:
The sun is up, and up must I,
To wash and dress and eat and drink
And look at things and talk and think
And work, and God knows why.
Oh often have I washed and dressed
And what’s to show for all my pain?
Let me lie abed and rest:
Ten thousand times I’ve done my best
And all’s to do again.
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