Rediscovering the Dignity of Work
Drawing Inspiration From Ronald Reagan's Favorite Childhood Book
The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it made some difference that you have lived and lived well.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The recent Reagan movie tells its story through Jon Voight's character, a grizzled KGB veteran who had tracked Reagan for decades, from his days in Hollywood to his presidency. Voight's character meets with a young, rising Russian political star interested in discovering why the Soviet Union lost to the United States in the Cold War and collapsed in the early 1990s.
During their meeting, Voight's character walks to his bookshelf and pulls out an old, obscure book: That Printer of Udell's by Harold Bell Wright. He explains how Reagan's mother Nelle, a devout Christian, gave the novel to Ronald as an 11-year-old boy growing up in Dixon, Illinois. Upon finishing the book, Reagan requested his baptism, the start of a deep faith that would stay with him and grow throughout his life. It was a faith that would become the key factor in his leading role in the good vs. evil battle against communism.
Intrigued, I read Udell's.
A Tale of Practical Christianity
The book’s main character (Dick Falkner) had a drunken father and a nomadic childhood, circumstances that no doubt resonated with a young Reagan amid similar hardships.
Above all, Falkner and young business owner George Udell were excellent role models embodying the book's central theme of practical Christianity - having a plan and taking action to execute God's will.
Practical Christianity is beyond straight preaching, your church denomination, or being seen in the pews on Sundays. It's about giving someone a chance to earn their way, as George Udell demonstrates in an early scene.
One night late at his print shop, Udell finds himself overloaded and in need of help. Off the cold street walks a desperate, disheveled Falkner looking for work after being rejected by every other place in town, including a church. George Udell immediately sits Dick down at a desk to see what he can do. Falkner doesn't hesitate, doesn't quibble over how much he's going to get paid. No, young Dick digs in and proves himself with good work, and a partnership is born.
As Dick establishes himself at Udell's and improves himself and his situation, his circle of influence grows within the town and church. This progression leads to Falkner devising a social welfare plan for the poor, drawing from his experience as a vagabond.
The Test of Work
A key component of Dick's project was that not everyone deserved assistance.
How did Dick plan to determine those deserving of help? It was those willing to work.
When someone challenges Falkner that charity will encourage laziness, he responds with the following argument:
"Not if it were done according to God's law," answered Dick. "The present spasmodic, haphazard sentimental way of giving does [encourage laziness]. It takes away a man's self-respect; it encourages him to be shiftless and idle; or it fails to reach the worthy sufferers."
"But what is God's law?" asked the other.
"That those who do not work should not eat," replied Dick; "and that applies on the avenue as well as in the mines... Different localities would require different plans, but the purpose must always be the same. To make it possible for those in want to receive aid without compromising their self-respect, or making beggars of them, and to make it just as impossible for any unworthy person to get along without work."
A Young Woman Finding Her Purpose
Work is love made visible.
Kahlil Gibran
The definition of work in Udell's is not limited to earning money - it is about being useful.
The book best illustrates this idea through the character of Amy Goodrich. The primary goal of Amy's wealthy, proud parents was for her to become a woman who didn't tarnish their family's reputation within the town. Her father dissuaded her from teaching Sunday school to underprivileged children because he considered it beneath her. Instead, he pushed Amy to marry a respected man of means who would take care of her.
Later in the story, Amy rebels against her parents while finally learning to properly care for a house, as she cooks and cleans on a family farm far from home.
When her parents demand she return home, Amy is resolute in her reply:
Amy looked at her [mother] steadily. "You know that a woman degrades herself when she does nothing useful, and that I count my present place and work, far above my old life at home."
"Father, forgive me for this, for I know that I am right. Let me stay here and prove that I am not useless to the world, and then perhaps I will go to you. In the meantime, keep my secret and no one shall know that your claim on society has been lessened because your daughter is learning to do a woman's work."
Work in the Post-Covid World
Upon reading Udell's, the book inspired me to reflect on society's current view of work, especially within white-collar industries.
The negative effects of covid remain five years later.
The hot debate during this period has been the balance of work-from-home versus in-office.
But more than that, I see a decline in people's attitude toward their work.
It's not just employees wanting to stay home and work in their pajamas.
It's about doing less.
Instead of being useful and having your work bring purpose to your life, a person's labor has become more transactional.
It's now about doing as little as possible to make enough to pay for their smartphone, their streaming services, their drugs and alcohol, their DoorDash deliveries, their Instagram vacations.
Their Clear Priority
Our company recently held our annual all-staff meeting, and our owner gives employees the opportunity to submit questions before the event.
Of the forty questions, only one employee asked how they could take on more responsibility and advance their career.
None of the questions were about improving our products and services for customers.
No, it was disappointing, but the remaining questions were a full-court press on reducing their work hours/output:
Can we get more clarity on our company's remote work policy? (Note: We've been very clear that we want people in the office; many keep asking this question because they don't like our answer)
Can we work sick from home instead of burning a PTO day?
What is the protocol for snow/cold/bad weather days? (Note: Our headquarters are in Chicago)
Can we get all of the bank holidays?
Can we get "Summer Fridays?" (Note: They are asking to leave work at noon on Fridays from Memorial Day to Labor Day)
Can our company completely close down during the last week of the year? (Note: No, this would be impossible, being that we support customer websites, and the Internet is 24/7/365)
In case you think it’s just our company, our owner attends various networking groups where he speaks with many small business owners who report the same concerning behavior inside of their organizations.
A New Approach in the New Year
True happiness... is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Helen Keller
While so much of the covid discussion has centered around health, we need to be aware that these last five years have been the largest incursion of communism ever to hit the United States. And if we believe this evil ideology will stop being a threat to our country, we are gravely mistaken.
As we enter a new year amid the excitement of the dawn of President Trump's second term, let's hope an increasing number of Americans look at work as something more than just a way to sustain a life of selfish pleasures.
By rediscovering the dignity of work and the art of being useful, we not only follow one of President Reagan’s successful strategies against communism.
We also have a better chance of reaching true happiness while making a difference with our lives.
Links:
Cinderella Man (2005) (terrific movie about the same topic)
Image credit: Alamy
Sharing Midwestern values through the stories of a hard-working single dad, all for the glory of God.