Griffin Speaks

ALL HONEST WORK IS HONORABLE

All honest work is honorable and should be treated with dignity and respect. Unfortunately it appears that in today’s society young people are not willing to work jobs that are considered demeaning.  I recently heard some kids laughing about a man selling Easter Baskets in the parking lot of a church. I quickly told them that the only job that I know of where you start at the top is a “Ditch Digger”. They laughed again. 

Many of the people that we hold in high esteem today once worked menial jobs on their way to the top. I have heard many highly successful people recount their humble beginnings. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge William H. Pryor was once a runner for a Mobile law firm, Alabama Attorney General Troy King worked at Gayfers Department Store; Dr. Joe L. Reed was once a janitor; and I washed pots and pans at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

In October 1903 Booker T. Washington gave a well-received speech at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee on Industrial Education. He said, “It has been necessary for the Negro to learn the difference between being worked and working---to learn that being worked meant degradation, while working means civilization; that all forms of labor are honorable, and all forms of idleness disgraceful. It has been necessary for him to learn that all races that have got upon their feet have done so largely by laying an economic foundation…” 

A friend of mine passed by one of my apartment buildings while I was cutting the grass. He said he nearly died laughing. I asked him why? He said because he saw me cutting the weeds on the edge of the street with a hedge clipper. He said that he understood my wanting to cut my own grass and save the money, but he could not understand why I did not purchase a weed eater. He said that I looked like a crack head. I thought he found it funny because I am an Attorney. 

When I see people working their job whatever their job may be I see honorable people. You should never say that I am just a waitress, or I am just a janitor. You should envision your job as your ministry. Eventually you will rise. The cream always rises to the top. It’s not where you start that matters most, it’s where you end up that is most significant. Take pride in honest work!

Greg Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his previous articles by visiting his web page at www.greggriffin.com