The importance of work

One of my regrets is that early retirement (so we could move to the Philippines where my husband wanted to retire) was that I can no longer work.

Indeed, after eight years without practicing medicine, except for sick staff members, is that unless I take several months of retraining I will probably never work as a doctor again: and with my mind getting slower with aging, I doubt I will ever do that. True, many docs still practice into their 70's, but many slow down after 65, seeing fewer patients and fewer emergency situations.

So OB/Gyn stop delivering babies and do pap smears, surgeons stop doing trauma surgery and continue with "bumps and lump" surgery in their office, GP's go into insurance examinations, and Pediatricians end up in administration: not because they see many problems where split second decisions are needed, but because there are just so many over-worried moms that you can cope with.

David Warren has an addendum on one of his essays where a priest wonders when the "social activist" section of the church, who never saw a helpless victim they didn't like, will bother to read Thes 3:10-12.:

“When we were with you, we gave this command: that any man unwilling to work should not eat, either. For we hear that some of you are meddlesome enough, but doing no work at all. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and earn their own keep.”

 This is a dig at the socialists in the Canadian (and US) Bishop's conference, who think handouts without strings (i.e. without preaching good behavior) are the solution, not to mention that these types love socialism, which doesn't work, and love to see themselves as holy because they give out money (without realizing where the money they are giving out comes from).

which brings us back to the Pope, who in a recent talk, did just that:

“It is necessary to reaffirm that employment is necessary for society, for families and for individuals”, said the Pope. “Its primary value is the good of the human person, as it allows the individual to be fully realised as such, with his or her attitudes and intellectual, creative and manual capacities. Therefore, it follows that work has not only the economic objective of profit, but above all a purpose that regards man and his dignity. And if there is no work, this dignity is wounded! Indeed, the unemployed and underemployed risk being relegated to the margins of society, becoming victims of social exclusion”.

 he then goes on to criticize modern capitalism for valuing money over people (I believe this refers to companies outsourcing jobs to make a larger profit), reminding folks that businessmen who provide jobs are doing something good for society:

Work is an asset for all, and must be available to all. ... The creativity of courageous businesspeople and craftspeople, who look to the future with trust and hope. And solidarity between all the elements of society, who all give something up, adopting a more sober lifestyle, to help those in need”.