Joy of a Job

16Apr/090

A friend from our church emailed this out today. She's in the middle of the long task of going through her parents' things to clear out "stuff" and "a little yellowed piece of paper cut out of a newspaper slipped out of a book belonging to [her] father."

I got a kick out of it. I think it's a beautiful insight into the work ethic of those a generation or two before us who built up this nation, faced a world at war, and worked to provide the abundance we've enjoyed.

If only we could bring this ethic back to common acceptance, as opposed to the entitlement-centric, "give me" ethic that infects our culture today:

Joy of a Job

I know that when I do a job
My energy is taxed
And it appears more pleasure to
be idle and relaxed
But I have tried the easy way
And I have always found
That I get mighty tired when
I merely lounge around
And I have gone about my task
With swift and steady step
that seemed to lift my spirits up
And give me added pep
And so I have decided that
The wiser thing to do
Is just to stay right on the job
Until I see it through
Because my heart is happy when
I know my work is done
And then I feel that I have earned
my leisure and my Fun.
- James J. Metcalf

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About Michael

Michael loves his God, wife, 3 sons, family & friends, reading, music, & his garden. He's a music director at Holy Family Catholic Church. By day, he is a Sr. Consultant at Omniture, an Adobe company.

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This is the online home of Michael Halbrook, Suzanne Halbrook, and their growing family. We're a family of five living out our Catholic faith and vocation in the St. Louis, Missouri area.

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Hey, that was me! Very cool! RT @webanalytics_it Comparing marketing channels #attribution #AdobeSummit @Halbrook http://t.co/csJSQTY2 2012/05/17
LOL. Literally. RT @joe_was_taken: Might go practice my golf swing while waiting for the android SDK to finish downloading. 2012/05/16
About to share these concepts in a breakout at #AdobeSummit #Attribution http://t.co/wlEuZzDx 2012/05/16
@owainc @RayPunSD I'd love to hear Father's take on that. There is a personal element missing in the digital self if we're not careful. 2012/05/16
I think there's more a direct relationship of convenience-2-multichannel than indirect of trust-2-multi http://t.co/awl387zc @MineThatData 2012/05/16

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