Impact of Hyperwork on Family

I am seeing this all the time now… 

Parents of little children, or even older children, who are too busy working to pay much, if any, attention to their families.

Call it a disease of the industrial revolution + information technology. 

Whether people worked on the assembly line making widgets or nowadays on the computer and smartphone answering their bosses and colleagues compulsively–it’s become a global obsession. 

On one hand, with the impending robot and AI revolution taking over jobs, people need to be grateful to even have a job to earn a living for the families.

On the other hand, with the connections to each other and our work 24/7, the depression-era saying of:

Brother, can you spare a dime?

Has morphed into:

Brother, can you spare some time?

Yes, we all need to be responsible adults, earn a decent living and pay our bills. 

But in the end, it’s not money or things that we give to our families that is the most important.  

I would argue money and things are the least important, and what is truly most precious is the love, time, and attention you give to yours. 

As the old saying goes:

Money can’t buy love.

But time and attention given to your loved ones can build meaningful relationships that last a lifetime and beyond. 

Yes, of course, people need to work to earn a living and productively contribute something to society, but it is also true that work is used as an excuse to run away from parental and familial responsibilities. 

It’s easier to give an Amazon gift certificate or a Gameboy then to actually spend the afternoon with the kids. 

These days, people say ridiculous things like:

I love going into the office to get away from home. 

But you can’t run away from your problems at home–you need to work on them and solve them.

The diabolical murderous Nazis used work as a tool to enslave, torture, and exterminate their victims as the sign over the gate of the Auschwitz (and many other) concentration camps read:

Arbeit Macht Frei  (or Work Sets You Free)

But as we all know inside, true freedom is being able to give generously from your time and effort to your loved ones, and slavery is not being able to let go of your work. 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Steak or Peanut Butter

Steak and Peanut Butter.jpeg

Ok, so yes this is not the best looking steak and peanut butter…


But that’s not the point here.


I was talking to a workman who has a seasonal business. 


“Business is doing well,” he said.


During the busy time…they can work 80 days straight without a break. 


And also work until midnight.


But the flip side is that for many months in the year, they have very little work at all.


It’s literally feast or famine. 


As we were talking about this, he says to me:

“We really have to make it during the busy season, because that determines whether we eat steak or peanut butter the rest of the year!”


It struck me how difficult this must be too depend on a few months for how you live all the year round. 


Sure, it must be nice to have a slower season and have some rest, relaxation, and maybe some fun. 


But if, G-d forbid, you’re not earning enough to support yourself for the duration of the year and you’re stuck eating peanut butter because you can’t even afford a steak anymore, then that must be pretty darn tough. 


Just something to think about and be grateful for if you can eat what you want and when you want to. 😉


(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Flying Garbage

Flying Garbage
Thought this was an interesting way to get the garbage to the curbside truck.



This guy is standing in the yard of this brownstone building in the leftover snow.



Almost like an Olympian, he is picking up bag after bag of garbage and tossing them at least a dozen feet (or more).



The garbage in these big hefty bags are sailing through the air to his partner standing by the truck in the street. 



This guy must be getting quite some exercise not only lifting, but also throwing these bags all day long.



And he actually seemed to be having some fun doing it too.



Like my wife said, “What if you get hit by the garbage…ew.



Fly garbage, fly! 😉



(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

On Every Corner, Real Hope

Street_corner_hope

There is a guy who stands on the corner in the 90+ degree heat here every day trying to sell his book.

Calling out to passer-bys, he repeats, “This is a motivational book. It has my autograph.”

Again and again, the people pass him by without even a second look.

I see him in the morning, the afternoon, and the evening–whenever I go down this street–and he is still standing there trying, trying, trying to sell his book.

The feeling I got was, not only didn’t I want his “motivational book,” but also (not to be mean), it was completely de-motivating watching him trying to sell it.

Usually with marketing, I would imagine that people want self-help books from other people that have clearly demonstrated success.

Those who have a compelling story to tell can tell us about a dragon they have slain–where we can transfer the feelings of success, the challenges overcome, and the lessons learned from the author to ourselves.

But because this guy is standing on the street corner, no one wants to purchase his book or give him a chance.

The guy standing on the corner is not the person in the “corner office.”

Yet, I have a feeling his story would be an interesting story to hear.

Perhaps, his story is even more compelling, because it’s from “the streets” and not from someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

But he is a stranger, selling a book on the corner, and I don’t go up to him to ask.

Standing on the corner, in the heat, peddling a book for a few bucks, could be you or I–it’s too easy to forget that.

I pray that G-d has mercy to help us all earn a fair days pay for a decent days work–not everyone is so blessed.

On every street corner, there can be real hope.

(Source Photo: here with attribution to Hanne)