Essays From West of 98: The Value of Work
Pursuing work worth doing in a society that strives to avoid work
“Work” is a peculiar concept in our society.
We claim to honor the idea of work as positive and meaningful. We use “hard working” as a compliment and we talk about a strong work ethic as a core virtue of the American ideal. We tell schoolchildren that they can be anything they desire if they work hard enough.
But on this Labor Day, I asked myself the question: does our society REALLY value work? Or do we just pretend that we do, while our actions suggest otherwise?
Theodore Roosevelt unquestionably valued the concept of work in every aspect of his life. Roosevelt used hard physical work to pull himself out of a sickly childhood and to cope with deep personal tragedy as an adult. The imagery from some of his most famous speeches (e.g. “The Strenuous Life” and “The Man in the Arena”1) centers around the notion of a hard-working, hard-striving citizen. Some of Roosevelt’s greatest presidential policy achievements centered around his defense of work. From resolving the Coal Strike of 1902 to reforming working conditions in meatpacking plants to his famous trust busting, Roosevelt saw a man’s labor as a meaningful, valuable thing that should be respected by society.
Accordingly, Roosevelt can be treated with sincerity and not skepticism when he speaks highly of work. He famously said in a Labor Day speech in 1903: “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing…”
Many of Roosevelt’s peers in the elite political and social classes deserve more skepticism when they laud the ideals of work, given the course of American history with regard to the devaluation of hard work and the people who do that hard work. One of Wendell Berry’s core theses in his lifetime of writing (with which I agree) is that work is intended to be dignified, valuable, and honorable, and American society has largely failed to uphold that view since the very beginning.
Berry wrote a lengthy essay called “Work” as the core of his sprawling and controversial 2022 book “The Need to Be Whole.” In that essay Berry writes of an 1820 conversation between future President John Quincy Adams and Southern firebrand John C. Calhoun that Adams recounted in his personal diary. Calhoun divided “work” into that which was suitable for a white person to undertake and that which was left to enslaved people. Not surprisingly, Calhoun stated that it was unacceptable for a white laborer to perform work that was meant for the enslaved class, lest it disrupt the social perceptions surrounding the division of work. Adams (who stands tall as one of our nation’s most decent public servants2) was appalled. Adams wrote that these “confounding” ideas were “one of the bad effects of Slavery” and he told Calhoun that it was a “perverted sentiment” to devalue certain forms of work by limiting them to slave labor.
We have thankfully banished American chattel slavery to the dustbin of history, but we continue to struggle with the roots of Calhoun’s “perverted sentiment” that devalues the goodness of work. The roots of it predate even Calhoun. Berry wrote in 1970 in “The Hidden Wound” that it is an inherent struggle of American history to undertake physical labor only long enough to achieve a higher economic status and then avoid such labor. Treating the avoidance of physical labor as an aspiration naturally degrades such work, if it is only something to avoid and escape. Consequently, this attitude degrades the people and social classes who are left to do the work after others rise “above” it. We have moved past slavery, but we have not moved past the degradation of hard work. Perhaps we never can, because this struggle dates to the literal beginning.
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Adam and Eve were called to do the good work of stewarding Creation,3 but they tried to hit the easy button and exchange good work for “knowledge.”4 They doomed themselves and the rest of us to a life that became more difficult and a wandering eye that constantly seeks to avoid physical work, especially the good work of caring for Creation.5 That goes far beyond chattel slavery. When we outsource manufacturing or production of raw goods to far-away countries with inhumane working conditions? When we demand the cheapest possible goods and services, no matter what that requires? When we exchange human workers for industrial machines or “artificial intelligence”? It all comes from the same root desire to rise above work. When government policymakers incentivize all those things, they may tell you that they value hard work, but their actions prove the exact opposite.
So what should we do? This is no mere call to just “suck it up” and accept a crappy job with terrible pay and no fulfillment. Back to our friend Mr. Berry. In a 2015 essay entitled “Our Deserted Country,”6 Berry takes aim at the very notion of the word “job”:
“The idea of vocation attaches to work a cluster of other ideas, including devotion, skill, pride, pleasure, the good stewardship of means and materials. Here we have returned to intangibles of economic value. When they are subtracted, what remains is “a job,” always implying that work is something good only to escape: “Thank God it’s Friday.”
We have all heard the saying “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” It is an admirable notion that generally points in the right direction, but it slightly misses the mark. That saying suggests that work itself is the problem, which points back to the Calhounian and Adamic goals of avoiding work. Work itself is not the problem. Work for the wrong purposes and without fulfillment is the real problem. Berry sets us on the right path by distinguishing a “job” from a “vocation.” We should pursue work that is meaningful and worthy of our devotion, skill, and pride. We should encourage and support that sort of work in others and in society at large. That includes demanding systems and policies that incentivize such work, instead of undercutting it.
Honoring the American worker on Labor Day isn’t worth a plug nickel if we don’t value good work throughout the rest of society, both in ourselves and in others. We were never meant to toil away unhappily in a mere “job” waiting for Friday or retirement. We were also never meant to spend life looking to rise “above” meaningful and pleasurable work, even if it is physically demanding. Humanity has struggled with this since the beginning of time, and American history exemplifies this struggle, but we need not fall victim to those failings in our own lives.
Theodore Roosevelt was correct. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. We should honor, value, and pursue that work accordingly.
James Decker is the Mayor of Stamford, Texas and the creator of the West of 98 website and the Rural Church and State and West of 98 podcasts. Contact James and subscribe to these essays at westof98.substack.com and subscribe to him wherever podcasts are found. Check out the West of 98 Bookstore with book lists for essential reads here.
Rooseveltheads know that “The Man in the Arena” is not the actual name of the speech. This speech was titled “Citzenship in a Republic” and was given at the Sorbonne in 1910. I took the literary license to reference the name of this particular passage which is often cited independently of the speech in full.
John Quincy Adams does not profile as the sort of historical figure that I would be quick to praise, as a scion of a Northeastern political dynasty who was quite opposed to Jeffersonian ideals that I endorse. Yet, Adams is to be commended on several levels. After his presidency, he quietly returned to Congress, serving 17 years in the House of Representatives, a humility that seems unfathomable in modern Presidents. On the questions of slavery and maltreatment of Native Americans, Adams was light years ahead of many of his contemporaries and willing to be outspoken about it.
This essay is contained in a Berry essay collection called “Our Only World: Ten Essays.”
Great read! I have been thinking about the value our society puts on hard work now for many years. My young self remembers thinking that the more strenuous a job was the less money one made. For me those were always the jobs I chose. Being in nature and sweating was my heaven. I did eventually find a job that paid more than minimum wage and helped me provide for my family. I am now 67 and planning my day working outside!
Thank you James for these letters of yours!
That is such an interesting point you make, James, about Adam and Eve neglecting work for knowledge. I need to think some more about this as I have never thought about this before.
And great analysis about the quote “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”