Why Work

With no offense meant to Lewis, this piece by Dorothy Sayers is far and away my favorite reading of this class. The reason is simple, she expresses my longing and calling and frustrations better than I could ever have. All the while making them clearer and more distinct. I honestly can barely sit still from excitement.

I am studying architecture, and I love all things related to design. Maybe too much. I get excited over well tailored jeans, or a solid, well proportioned fork. I try to avoid Walmart or Meijers as much as possible because I cannot stand the cheapness. I think it would disgust Sayers as well. She says, “We should ask of an enterprise, not 'will it pay?' but 'is it good?'; of a man, not 'what does he make?' but 'what is his work worth?'; of goods, not 'Can we induce people to buy them?' but 'are they useful things well made?'”

Sayers argues forcefully that as christians, we should care deeply about the quality of work. The image she presents is that of a craftsman lovingly creating beauty, not for profit, but for the sake of the work. It is not that the worker should not be compensated, it rather that the motivation for work should not be the reward of profit, but the work itself. She says, “So long as Society provides the worker with a sufficient return in real wealth to enable him to carry on the work properly, then he has his reward. For his work is the measure of his life, and his satisfaction is found in the fulfillment of his own nature, and in contemplation of the perfection of his work.”

This is the opposite of how we moderns or postmoderns view work. For us, profit justifies the work, not the other way around. I am reminded of the medieval belief that banking was sinful because the banker did not produce any goods, so he must simply be leaching money off of those who are actually producing. I do not think that this is a correct or just view; banking is just as noble a trade as farming is when it is done well. The view though, that the product of one's work is more important than the profit one receives is illuminating.

I think that the importance put by Sayers on quality and beauty is key. If we really did everything as if we were doing for God, we would not settle for shoddy, ugly work. It is sad that we have “Forgotten that a building must be good architecture before it can be a good church; that a painting must be well painted before it can be a good sacred picture; that work must be good work before it can call itself God’s work.”