Candide Pt. 2: The Value of Work

“I have no more than twenty acres of ground, the whole of which I cultivate myself with the help of my children, and our labor keeps us from three great evils—boredom, vice, and want.”

                                  -Candide, Voltaire, 129

     There is a reason sloth is one of the Seven Deadly Sins—Idle hands, you know… And undoubtedly there is a certain satisfaction in a hard day’s work. I believe this is what the Turk is trying to convey here when he tells his guests of his way of life. The Turk clearly understands this principle, and he seems to harvest not only plentiful crops, but joy. It would appear that the fruit of his labor is much more than “citrons, oranges, lemons, pine-apples, pistachio-nuts, and Mocha coffee”—he reaps a loving, close-knit family, to which the passes values and wisdom—the same values and wisdom he possesses. And that fruit is sweeter than nectar.

     I had a professor once that oft quoted her own mother’s favorite saying: “Teach your children to work and they will always be of use in the Kingdom of God.” I find this striking in its simple truth. It might seem obvious—“Teach your children to work—why, of course!—but somehow we have become an entitlement generation—nay, an entitlement nation! Everybody wants something for nothing—they want a handout—a gimme… But I daresay the Turk’s children wouldn’t dane to consider such a thing! They understand that (and here I get on my political soapbox—for which I do not apologize!) “[w]hat one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." (Dr. Adrian Rogers, emphasis added) They understand what much of America does not understand today: the value of work.

     (Now off of my soapbox and onto other things…) I think my greatest understanding of work came when I got pregnant with my first child. I had to wait, and, while I had very little control over it, for nine months my body worked to create a tiny baby. And when I went into labor (notice the word we use to describe the event…), my body worked harder than it ever had, preparing it and my baby for what was to happen next—the most wonderful and delicious fruit of any labor I could imagine—my beautiful, sweet, precious baby girl was born.

And I felt joy in the fruit of my labors, to be sure.