WHAT DO WE NEED?

I hear a lot of talk about jobs. Everyone says the country needs more jobs. Yet I know many, many people with jobs who are not very happy. I suppose they are happier than if they could not pay their bills, but perhaps the problem is that they have too many bills to pay. I don’t know.

It just seems to me that historically jobs have not been society’s problem. Everyone had more than enough work to do taking care of their own work. Don’t misunderstand. I know that for much of history things were very hard for the common man. But usually poverty stemmed NOT from not having enough work to do. Historically poverty has usually stemmed from the fact that individual toil benefitted others than oneself: often royalty or government, but occasionally thieves and armies.

Today we need jobs because men have been removed from their work. Laying concrete all day pays a wage, but it is not very personally satisfying. Waiting on customers all day is less strenuous, but nearly drives people crazy. There seems to be more to life than a job and salary. Or at least many people think so.

There has also been a tremendous interest develop in entrepreneurship. I wonder why that is. It looks to me like owning one’s own business is a lot more risk and hard work than a job. Yet many want to own what they do. They even seem to work harder at their own enterprise than they do their jobs.

There is a common psychological list of people’s needs. It varies from time to time and from psychologist to psychologist. But generally it looks something like air, water, food, shelter (including clothes and housing), and energy for warmth and cooking. I find it interesting that psychologists never list work as essential to man’s well being. Yet humans are seldom idle. They may socialize and spend time in various forms of meditation. But they often spend their time beautifying, improving, and building. Art, music, poetry, tools, and better equipment seems to have occupied much of mankind’s time.

Maybe people need fewer bills and more demands. Maybe people would rather work for their own risks and rewards. Maybe people don’t need jobs, but businesses. Maybe we don’t need to create jobs, but farms and small factories. Maybe people need to work. Maybe people need to work for themselves as much as they need to work. Maybe it isn’t jobs we need at all.