The Role of Work in One’s Life

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I have a few reactions to this meme that I hope readers will find meaningful:

Work, in the right context, is actually closer to play.  I’m reminded of what Dustin Hoffman said, “I’m a horrible vacationer.  I look at a beach sunset and imagine how I would represent it to a film audience.”

Here’s what I told my kids when they were young, though I don’t suggest that it’s an original idea: “You’re going to be spending a large percentage of your waking hours doing something that’s called ‘work.’  So find something you love, and get damned good at it.”

And here is what one of my philosophy professors told me as a young man: “I have a life that I enjoy 52 weeks a year.  It never occurred to me to have a life I dislike so that I can take a two-week vacation from it.”