Ana Vanoli - Traducciones

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Happiness through Human Work

C. W. Gichure
Kenyatta Univer

(from Conclusions)

Since man is a social being, work is also a service to the others and a sign of friendship and benevolence. In it, besides the use of the object of his production, the virtuous person sees and seeks something beyond the mere possessing. He aspires to share his gift, the gift of what he is', what he possesses, with other human beings: knowledge, talent, virtue; so that they too may 'have' and be happy. In this sense work is a service and the greatest contribution to the common good. In, and through work, one can, if one wants, appropriate things; incorporate them so as to serve the others. He can produce things, mechanical works, to serve others more efficiently. He or she can also produce beautiful works of art, books, artistic works, sports, so as to offer them to others as a symbol of friendship as well as a means of self expression (Alvira:1988). Thus, says Grimaldi, "the necessities of our subsistence are more of an occasion rather than the reason for work, (In Alvira:1988). Through our work we become more because we add something to our being. In this sense it can be said that man and woman only find happiness in giving something of what they are to others. It also explains why human beings, no matter how powerful or rich, need others for whom they can do something. Human beings are the only animals capable of feeling nostalgia.

In the technical and moral level this understanding of work leads to the zeal to excel. By this is meant that one consciously aspires to work well, making the greatest possible effort to produce perfect work according to the best models known within the particular practice in question. The social sciences call that 'professionality'. This requires the development of certain habits or virtues and of course, the rejection of those vices or habits that are opposed to those virtues. In a word, the formulation of an Ethic of work.

The most important of those virtues is industriousness. To be industrious is not exactly the same thing as to be very active. Industriousness requires that work be orderly, well organized and that certain priorities are observed.

Industriousness also means work done diligently; that is to say that work be done lovingly. There is a great difference between work done lovingly and work done because it has to be done as mere meaningless duty. In the first one there is the perfective effect, whereas in the second one there is only a partial perfective dimension. And, what is more, these internal dispositions show externally in work itself. Now love is to be found not only in the personal motive with which one works (my immediate aim) but also in the extent to which the work itself is in keeping with those norms which, in some way, reflect permanent values. This is the link between 'know-how'or technique, and morality, the humanising factor.

For work itself to be worthy, well-done, it must also be done in accordance with certain objective ethical norms. Effort, though praiseworthy, is not enough to make a work good. Shoddy work is not made good by the fact that there was effort. Effort has to combine with quality, with detail, with aesthetics and with finishedness. This is the ambit of patience, constancy and perseverance in the work begun. In it one has the opportunities to exercise understanding, promptness in serving clients for instance and in treating all people with the dignity that befits them as fellow human beings who need one's service. A cheerful service is one of the most appreciated human qualities.

Opposed to industriousness is laziness, a vice by defect. Laziness must not be understood to be only the 'doing-nothing', or 'do-little', which is, of course, the first and clearest expression of that vice. It includes all forms of 'go-slow' and calculating of effort attitude. Yet nothing tires so much as 'laziness'. It tires because to maintain inactivity, or to work slowly when one is not so constituted also requires some effort. It is tiring to refrain from doing, from thinking, from using one's imagination because the operative powers point towards that direction. On the other hand in so doing one deprives oneself of that self-realization by which one can add something to his being.

Most people who do very little find themselves constantly tired. Paraphrasing Strauss (Strauss:1970;236) one can say that the poverty which ensues from laziness is an unnatural condition in man because natural law does not encourage begging, and the only honest way of appropriating material things other than just taking them, (through corruption and other forms of stealing), not from other people, but from nature is through work.

Opposed to industriousness by excess is the frenetic non-stop activity which some people nowadays call 'workaholism'. This defect has two sources; it could be a cover up for some problem, for instance that of fear of assuming some responsibility besides that of the particular job at hand, or a form of escape from facing some unappealing social or family situation, or even of facing oneself. In both cases pyschological negative habit, a vice, is involved. Non-stop activity could also arise when work has not been properly understood in its complete dimension and function for man. This would be the case where work, in its technical dimension is understood as an end in itself, on one hand, and on the other hand where work is understood as a kind of punishment to be avoided by all means and whenever possible.