Palaces of Work

There are usually very few actual textbooks that I enjoy. Probably because most text books are horribly written (but that's another story). However, once in a while, a textbook will reach can reach past the traditional rhetoric that horrifies most readers, and touch me. I was reading in my World Civilization Text this afternoon (about 20 seconds ago) about the rise of industrialization. And Fernandez Armesto wrote something that makes me long for the old days; the pre-industrialization days.

"In the past, small groups of workers had shared intimate surroundings: workshops in which a few equals or near equals collaborated, or households in which a master craftsman marshaled apprentices who lived together like a large family. Now seismic social upheavals raised factories like "smoking volcanoes" (as contemporaries said), burying the world of artisans and flattening traditional social hierarchies."

"Like a large family..." goodness, doesn't that sound fantastic? I have been privileged to work for several employers who create that type of environment. But I must say, that those types of atmospheres have diminished and aren't the norm any more, just as Armesto describes. We look to the capitalist mentality and look for efficiency, not family. We want a place where people work: keep the spheres separate. Which of course, I agree that once you leave work, you must LEAVE work and be with your family. But why can't the ideals and love within your family be spread into the workplace? Can't fellow employees bond together, care about each other, love one another, and feel on equal ground? I think they can. I think it happens. I've been there, in fact, I'm lucky enough to be there right now with my job in the Library.

I guess I'm writing this to encourage you to create this type of environment in your own workplace. Make a difference. Make your Palace of Work a place where family values and feelings flourish. Share the love inside of you with those all around you. Don't mix up work with your family, but certainly mix the care and love for children of God with your fellow employees-they deserve it.