Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
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Colossians 3:23
In commemoration of Labor Day, St. Francis Memorial Homes would like to tackle the existential question, “Why work if we all gonna die?”.
If you ask a religious person, a devout Christian for example, he/she will most likely say, “because if we work hard on earth, we will be rewarded in heaven”. The bible says in Proverbs 12:11,
“Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.”
Assuming that not everyone who read this is a believer, allow us to this topic in a more rational manner. Perhaps, we go through the province of Philosophy and expound things without jargon.
Western philosophers throughout the ages has been asking the question, “What is the meaning of life? What makes us happy? What is our purpose?”. The most notable individual who pointed out the morbid fact about life is Martin Heidegger. In his book Being and Time, he said “we are beings unto death”. Death is our inevitable end.
Albert Camus explained the necessity for work in his essay “Myth of Sisyphus”. The Greek myth narrated that the king of Corinth was cursed to roll a rock upwards towards the mountain. When the rocks almost reaches the top, it fell over again. His agony lasts forever. However, Albert Camus said that Sisyphus was actually happy. On the moment the rock rolls back down from the summit, Sisyphus became a conscious individual. He faced his eternal struggle head on and proved that he was stronger that his rock.
What Sisyphus did is a change of perspective. He has the kind of optimism of a housewife/househusband who joyfully cleans his/her house even if it gets dirty the next day. Another similar analogy is the passion of scientists. These brilliant minds has an undying curiosity to look for answers and truth even if a lifetime is not enough to finish the work of building the blocks of knowledge. By the time we look at our life positively, we become stronger people.
You don’t have to be a person of great stature to find your purpose in life. Just look around you. You will find people who are important to you. They are enough motivation for you to work hard.
Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Timothy 5:8
After all the things we do while we are alive are the things that our friends and family will be reminded of. Therefore, it is always right to leave something behind — aside from property and insurance funds, we focus on good deeds and lovely memories that will last forever.