I can still remember, when I was growing up, the importance of work and doing a good job. People would say, “He’s a good worker.” and that meant something. If they weren’t a good worker it meant something too. It was a yardstick by which a person’s character was measured.
I don’t know when it happened, but things have dramatically changed. I no longer feel the presence of that expectation around me. Everyday I witness a lack of desire to do a good job. It is not everywhere, of course, but it is a palpable shift in attitude.
I still feel the weight of a good work ethic inside me. I was raised that way. And isn’t that what sticks with us in our core values anyway? The way in which our families did or did not endorse behavior has an effect that lasts way beyond childhood.
So, I have to say it. The United States no longer has the work ethic it once had. The European population that immigrated here at the turn of the Twentieth Century brought us people who needed work. They wanted it desperately and were willing to toil long and hard for the chance at a better life. Others have come from all over the world and brought their families here to strive for the same thing. They enabled us to become a great and wealthy nation.
My grandparents were all European immigrants and they worked very hard their entire lives. It benefited my parents lives and has continued to benefit mine. I can honestly say that the attitude that was impressed upon me, has made me a better worker and a better person.
Taking responsibility for oneself and doing your part in a collective effort benefits the society in which we live and gives everyone a stake in the future. Moreover, it makes each person part of something “bigger than oneself.” There is a good feeling attached to it. Like it or not you and I are all in this together. As Americans, we can turn things around or leave things the way they are. I prefer to think that we can work together and turn the tide into an ocean of opportunity and enjoy the bounty that it brings, for each one of us..