On Labor

In 1776, Adam Smith wrote the words, “A man must always live by his work, and his wages must at least be sufficient to maintain him.” That simple sentence has been causing me considerable grief. The idea has found no resting place in my mind of late. It keeps tumbling around my mind like three quarters loose in the dryer. It is very unsettling.

I am very good at my work. I don’t write that to boast. It is much more just a statement of my experience. I am very good at my work because I have rare and extensive experience. Ten years of working in a trade is long enough for a man to gain mastery if he applies himself. It’s not just time though; I have been places, I have done things. Some of things I have done become the muse for historians and movie stars; people are impressed with my resume. Everyone always say, “Wow, you were a sniper?”

The rub of all this is simple. What good is it to be an expert in a field that no one values? This week I completed the first week of my new job. I now use my considerable skills and experience to guard a high-end shopping mall. I am no longer using my observation and recon skills to hunt terrorists; I use them to keep juveniles from spitting off the top floor of the parking garage. Is this is a preview of my next ten years? Can I really say I am “living by my work,” and if so what sort of living is it?

I am happy to have a job in these down times, and I really like the people I work with, but something is not right. I can hear loose thoughts clanging around in my mind. With my wages will I be able to provide for two boys that are soon to start their adventures in this life?  I don’t mean provide them with iPods, smart phones, and forty dollars designer t-shirts I buy on credit. I mean provide them with opportunity. Did I, “Study war and politics, so my sons could study mathematics, and philosophy,” or is it more like the Drive-by Truckers song and, “I am trying to hang onto the worst of places, a family can’t live on fast food wages”?

I am a man blessed with many things but professionally I am on the bottom rung. My current wages will not produce much of a future; they may get us by on a wing and prayer, but is that really enough? It is not for me. I hate life as a grind. Living paycheck to paycheck is not much a life. There are always ways a man can better himself, ways he can grab that next rung. I have chosen education. Education might be the key to opening the doors that are currently closed.  Writing might be another. The truth is I am on the lookout for any honorable thing to grasp if it will help provide an opportunity upward.

The true genius of Adam Smith’s work was his ideas for helping the poor. He thought the way to help the poor was to help them work. He also thought such work should provide them with a future. I may be working, but I still look for my future.