Terkel to me is the modern day Aristotle. He challenges what is said, elaborates, and expands on the idea presented in front of him. He combines his previous interviews into his personal viewpoint in the introduction on how everyday working people live and feel. I find their claims to be rather intriguing, giving that I’ve held a job and can relate. These allegations and connections seem to be very spot on with 21st centuries issues, such as lack of work ethic, I see today.
The idea of holding a job that brings value to your life is something that Terkel touched on. Work ethic is something we deemed important in previous generations. I recall my grandfather telling me, “if I don’t do it with passion, then I might as well not do it at all”. This is something I see my generation lacking much of, passion and work ethic. This perception has also caught the attention of Terkel as well. The indication that individuals would prefer a lackadaisical worker who turns out more is better than the diligent work who comes less, is proof that the importance of work ethic is nonexistent.
I asked myself, what is the purpose of holding a job. Many people are working to maintain their livelihood. This entails providing food, clothing, shelter for either just themselves or their families as well. He say’s that “no matter how demeaning the task, no matter how it dulls the senses and breaks the spirit, one must work. Or else”. Others like myself are working just to bring in a little extra cash. As many college students I’m sure can relate, our optimal working situations would be far more upscale than, working in a fast food restaurant, cleaning a dirty dorm bathroom, or like in my case calling recent Alumni asking them to donate back to the school. Our mere purpose is to make money, not to joy the job. This notion is something I see Terkel pushing more towards, but in more of a positive manner. He first reminds us that the common characteristic in everyone is the reward of our pay checks. He then moves on by giving us specific examples from his research, “I’m a machine, says the spot-welder. I’m caged, says the bank teller and echoes the hotel clerk. I’m a mule, says the steelworker”. These are prevalent things we would typically here coming from the working class. However, there is a complete shift in ideas when reading Bob Patrick the Policeman. Bob’s character is first introduced with background information on his hopes and dreams wanting to always to work in the city. He said that he felt that working with the city was the best job in the world and if he wasn’t a cop, he didn’t think any other job would be good enough. His ambition and determination throughout this story was one that I believe my generation lacks, again agreeing with Terkel. Bob’s job consisted of emergency patrolling in what was considered a bad area, which was a dramatic change compared to his previous job. I explored the reoccurring theme of quality versus quantity in work ethic seen in both passages, and found that there is this preconceived notion that a person would rather take the lesser of the two.
Kerisha
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
Some of the few things I liked about your paper was the fact that sometimes you summarized quotes, like when you were explaining companies valuing quantity over quality, and other times you used the actual quote to get your point across even more.
Kerisha,
I really liked your reading response. Ours actually relate in many ways. For mine, there was a theme of passion that I said almost wasn’t prevalent at all within our working class generation. You touched upon that when you talked about what your grandfather said, and I thought that was spot on. It seemed like we both had a heavy amount of grievances for our generation in terms of their perception of work. So many of our generation are focused on how their job can help them (status, title, money) and not the other way around. One, they don’t see it as something they should love and be passionate about. Two, they are more focused on themselves and not actually contributing to society and making something out of the job they have. Work ethic and passion are definitely lacking, like you said.
Kerisha,
I also agree that our generation is lacking in work ethic. I feel that people don’t seem to have the passion to work or ambition to find jobs where they feel gratification. People are becoming more materialistic and are becoming too preoccupied with what rewards/benefits from popular jobs. The example of Bob Patrick the Policeman is a good example to support your claim that you need ambition and determination to work in any job.
Kerisha,
I love the comparison to Aristotle, but Terkel is only the messenger. I think he coaxes out many Aristotles by just talking to them. Through his deep interviews, Terkel digs into the passion that your grandfather sought, and that serves both the frustrations and desires of workers like Bob Patrick, a man who has struggled all his life to live up to his duties as a policeman. I wanted to know if there was a particularly compelling quote for you from Patrick’s interview that made his story credible, or less credible to you as a job lived fully?
One of the goals I have for the class is to expose all of you, with vastly different interests and goals, to the issues that plague the natural places in which you’re living for 4 years, and the people who strive passionately to be good stewards of Rockbridge County. What makes them tick? What lenses do they use to see their conservation work as significant? –Prof. Hodde