Your Soul for a Doughnut

A mind-frying work week has left me in a heap, wondering if I'm yet another of Catbert's conquests, like this pathetic, lovable, coffee swizzling, doughnut muncher from Dilbert.

I tell myself: My job is as ennobling or soul-devouring as I make it. I'm the one in charge here. It's really up to me.

That's partly true. But the state of my soul is not my doing alone. We're social critters--partly shaped, for better and for worse, by other people. Catbert and the Evil Corporation really can mess us up, steal our souls. And, to the extent that they're the culprits, then standing up to them, demanding changes in our work, is clearly the noble path.

But here's where it gets both complex and fun: The problem can also lie within me, in my way of seeing my job, the way I choose to invest myself, make something meaningful out of those 8, 10, 12 workday hours.

A story... A man sees a worker hauling huge boulders and asks him what he's doing. "I'm a miserable man," he answers, "doomed to a life of menial drudgery, breaking and hauling these huge rocks all day in the hot sun. Woe is me." He sees another man doing exactly the same thing, asks him the same question, and hears him reply: "I'm earning a living to take care of my family." And then he sees yet a third man doing exactly the same task who replies "Me? What am I doing? Why, I'm building a cathedral."

I need to take charge of my job. Dunno yet whether it's the system I need to challenge or just myself and the way I look at my job. Whatever. Just don't wanna be an anesthetized victim like our buddy from Dilbert.