Statement on Work

"Statement on Work" - 17 Mar 2025

The quality that sets humans apart from other animals is their ability to change their environment in astonishing ways–creating civilizations. This has required massive amounts of energy and cooperation by many generations of humans over thousands of years. It’s been driven by individuals, each imagining, laboring, striving to make the world a better place. Today, however, work is seen as an unfortunate necessity of life–something people must endure only to pay their bills and increase the little numbers in their bank accounts. Instead of seeing work as a necessary evil, it’s important to recognize its potential for self-improvement.

Often, work is supposed to be a mere exchange–labor for money–but this is not the case. That is to say, work, paid or unpaid, has the potential to benefit both sides, the laborer and the beneficiary. While you can say that human labor is worth $20 an hour or whatever people happen to be paid, how would you quantify your experience? The improvement of your ability to work in the future? Or the increase in people skills that comes from interacting in a professional setting? Work is truly more valuable than it seems at first, and it’s certainly beneficial to all parties involved, even if it might not always be enjoyable.

One of the most important life lessons learned in childhood is that sometimes, we have to do things we don’t want…often just explained as ”because they’re good for you”. Like working out or eating your vegetables, working is a necessary part of life. By realizing that labor isn’t a burden, but rather a way to grow, we can all work to make the world a better place. After all, work is how humans transformed the world – and how we can transform our future.

-Seth Wilding

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