The Seamstress Or, Young Woman Working Giclee Print
Duparc, Francoise
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My great-uncle used to carry a card that he passed out to everybody he met, and this is what was written on it:
WORK IS MAN'S GREATEST FUNCTION
He is nothing, he can do nothing, he can achieve nothing, fulfill nothing without working.
If you are poor-work. If you are rich-continue working.
If you are burdened with seemingly unfair responsibilities- work.
If you are happy, keep right on working. Idleness gives room for doubts and fears.
If disappointments come-work. If your health is threatened- work.
When faith falters- work. When dreams are shattered and hope seems dead- work.
Work as if your life were in peril. It really is.
No matter what ails you-work. Work faithfully, work with faith.
Work is the greatest remedy available- for both mental and physical afflictions.
-James M. Cowan.
I think about my uncle's work ethic when I remember that I once gave my great-uncle a "worry stone" (a smooth stone you can rub with your fingers) and he told me he wore a hole in it. I don't think it was from worry, I think he just worked at it too hard!
This was pasted in my grandmother's scrapbook. I do not know who wrote it, but it looks like it was in a church bulletin:
WORK
How true it is when I am sad
A little work can make me glad.
When frowning care comes to my door
I work a while and fret no more.
I leave my couch harassed with pain,
I work, and soon I'm well again.
When sorrow comes and vain regret,
I go to work and soon forget.
Work soothes the soul when joys depart,
And often mends a broken heart.
The idle mind soon fills with murk,
So that's why God invented work.
The Dairyman Brings Fresh Milk in Two Buckets Hung on a Yoke into His Dairy Giclee Print
Bedford, Francis
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Quotable Quotes (also from Grandma's scrapbook):
"The best way to leave your footprints in the sands of time is to wear your work shoes."
"The best way to leave your footprints in the sands of time is to wear your work shoes."
"If fifty million people do a foolish thing, it's still a foolish thing."
3 comments:
Dear Lillibeth,
I'm so glad to be able to comment on your wonderful posts! Thank you for bringing a bit of sunshine to our days, and especially for the wise words concerning work. So true it is, that when nothing else can be done, going about and doing one's work can lift the spirits like nothing else.
Love,
Marqueta
Thank you, Marqueta!
What lovely tributes to work the paintings are that you've selected. Do artists still render artworks that speak something of the meaningful nature of work? I'm trying to think of an example, and I can't off hand.
Work seems to have become marginalized in our post-modern world. I'm trying to understand why. Doesn't it seem that when work loses its intrinsic value and is reduced to a means of obtaining money, it loses its power to bring fulfillment to our lives or inspiration for our artwork? Our attitudes toward work (doing) would seem to stem from our attitudes about ourselves (being). If work would have meaning, we must first believe that we ourselves have meaning. So if our existence doesn't mean something, our work can't either. But if we mean something, it seems to follow that our work can be meaningful, and that, however mundane it is, work is a worthy subject for art because the human experience is worthwhile.
Still thinking, albeit somewhat circularly. Thanks for the inspiration.
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