Why do I work? Because it sustains me. It puts a roof over my head, clothes on my back and food in my stomach. It gives me security. It frees me from the day to day struggle to simply survive and allows me the luxury of truly enjoying life. It allows me to better myself. I learn and think and grow. It allows me to indulge my passions. It provides me with the resources I need to create and enjoy the creations of others. Music, films, books and other works of art can become a part of my life whether I make them myself or if they are made by others. It allows me to enjoy the company of loved ones when the day is done and my time is my own again.

This, of course, assumes a rational attitude towards working where my efforts result in a betterment of myself and my experience of life. Unfortunately, too many people do not see that working is intended to serve the worker as much as the employer. They are caught in a slave mentality that sees the employer as omnipotent and the employee as merely a tool to be used and tossed aside when it is finally worn out from over use. They see the sacrifice of themselves and their energies as necessary and unavoidable. They take on as much as gets handed to them, they work long, exhausting hours without complaint and they settle for disrespect and inadequate compensation. And it is no wonder that most employers are happy to accept these sacrifices. Who wouldn't be tempted by the lamb that willingly places it's head upon the butcher's block?

If, at the end of each day, I leave the job feeling less of a man than when I came in that morning, the job is no longer serving to nourish me. Instead, it is consuming me. If I am treated as a thing to be moved and used and manipulated without any concern for my wishes then my humanity is stolen, or worse, thrown away and I am nothing more than a soulless piece of meat. If this is what I get from working, then the job is poison and is best left behind. I might just as well be destitute and homeless since then, at least, my time is fully my own.

If you are going to work then work for yourself. Do it because it is good for you and because it will make your life better for the effort. Do it because it gives you more freedom, not less. Do it because it makes you feel good about your life and yourself, not worse. Do it because it makes you feel proud of your accomplishments, not embarrassed by your willingness to submit to being used and abused.

This is why I work.