The Jobless Jack and the Redeemer

Written with Puja Narula

A few days back a jobless friend of mine asked me, "What is the reward of your work?" I thought about my remuneration, and instantly told him the p.a. that I receive as a part of my service to Alstom. He just laughed, and I for once chirped, a jobless jack laughing at my positive pay package could either be a philosopher or simply insane. "What is your remuneration?" I asked. "Nothing", he said. "Why were you laughing at mine?" I inquired further. "Let's leave it," he said dismissively. "No, I want to know, what was the most amusing part?" "You won't understand," he tried to be objective. "I would try," I said, not concealing my anxiousness. "I asked you for the reward of your work and you told me about what gets fed to your bank accounts at the end of each month, do you work for money?" I knew that I worked for money, but it appeared to be too crude to accept this, "I won't say I work for money; but I work for money, along with the learning that my work brings, the way it enriches my life and brings forth new experiences, money is a part of it, but a vital one I may add." "Be clear, Ankur, is money just a part of it, or is it the core of the 10 hours that you spend each day, thinking, living, and straining yourself for a job," he was quick to question. "The way you say it, it does look like a bad bargain to me, but to be honest, I do think about money when it is about my job, but I am sure I am making the world a better place to live in by the kind of work that I do; you see, I sell circuit breakers at a profit, so I help keep my industry alive. This circuit breaker is useful in substations, which in turn helps transfer electricity, and brings to people's home a lot of happiness, so I add to this phenomenon of happiness by being a part of a system that helps produce something essential to their existence." He thought for a while after I said this. "So is this happiness of people, whom you may or may not know, the reward?" I was happy to answer this one, "It seems to be; what is your take?" He did not listen to my question, "And yet, when I asked what the reward of your work is, you seemed to be completely on the surface, trying to force your material accomplishments, instead of this more concrete retribution." I did not know if his question made sense this time; wasn't it obvious that the world understood it the way I answered. He continued, "And yet, if you were not able to make people happy, but sad, for example if you were an undertaker, you will not be able to say the reward of work is the happiness." I realized it was going beyond my ability to compare my situation with the answer that he was getting to, and yet I wasn't too satisfied with the answer that I gave, for my answer seemed to be a surrender of sorts, another half-truth that I perceived as full.

"What drives an undertaker to do his job?" he asked again, making me uncomfortable. "I guess, it is money," I rebuked, irritated this time by his continuous volley of questions. "And yet, he can do whatever he wants instead of doing that work, for the amount of money he gets." I could not help admire the rationality of the thought. "I must say, he had developed a skill for it." I tried to bridge the gap between the question and my ability to think. "So he does what he has developed a skill for, and you do what you've developed a skill for." I nodded in affirmation, "And you both, since you've developed the skill, grow each day, while you work through the same skill." I nodded again, every new order that I got for my company made me a better salesman. "So, there is a rather viscous circle, your ability to invest in your skill, in terms of time, makes you a more accomplished person with respect to the same skill." "That is completely true," I said. "And thus you polish yourself, when you invest those 10 hours, doing things that you already know, trying to strive towards perfection in one odd job that you've learnt in your lifetime and keeps you interested." "Yes," I said, "but I would also want to understand the other department's job and broaden my horizons." "But is it not only to sharpen your skills further, enlarge your control over the dynamics that govern your job and try to influence them, is it not growth?" I was trying to understand where he was getting, and I happy he helped me understand better the 'remuneration' of my job. "So you want to say, that reward of my work is the work itself?" "Yes," the jobless friend said calmly. "But what about the money? I am pretty sure, if I don't get the expected increment this year, I may not be motivated to work to the best of my abilities." "Well, that's essential, I never said that it is not, it's for your well-being, and that counts, as much as your skill and ability to develop them does, and yet, its nowhere the reward, but the vitality, the force that helps live and not grow, to be honest." "So your question remains valid, but my answers has been lost to your conviction”, “… to the truth," he said interrupting me and the conclusion that I was trying to impose. I smiled at him. "Thanks, your words I will remember them."

He smiled back. "I won't, not yours." The jobless jack had given me a lesson of life, and I grinned passively at my new learning. I thought I could share it with friends, and colleagues, and what better way than to do it through the magazine!

Inspired by the arguments of Socrates, in the book Republic by Plato.

Copyrights: Ankur Beohar