Why do we value people based on their Job??

amother

Orange

Sun, Jul 15 2018, 10:01 am

soap suds wrote:

Why is your job who you are? I mean this as a general question. Why do people define themselves by what they do for a living? Your job is just one aspect of your life. There's so much more to a person than just that. it shouldn't be the definition of you.

a person's career is really just a means to an end, yet somehow, society (and I mean general society) has made it the be all end all of life. It shouldn't be this way.

no its not. Jobs that people take, doing work they would rather not do, are a means to an end.

A medical professional,for example, adds a very value service to general society. Ask a doctor in Israel if they are 'in it only for the money' - good chance they'd laugh.

soap suds

Sun, Jul 15 2018, 1:19 pm

amother wrote:

Ok. I hear what you're saying. But to take your example of a medical professional, is that who he/she IS? If for whatever reason he/she ceases to be a doctor, who would they be? There must be more to them than just this aspect.

amother

Floralwhite

Mon, Jul 16 2018, 2:02 pm

soap suds wrote:

As a professional, I won't say that this is who I am. On the other hand, my job definitely does impact me and has changed who I am in many ways, so it therefore does define me. Of course this is more to me than just this aspect, but this aspect is still a major part of who I am.

amother

Taupe

Mon, Jul 16 2018, 3:49 pm

soap suds wrote:

Why is your job who you are? I mean this as a general question. Why do people define themselves by what they do for a living? Your job is just one aspect of your life. There's so much more to a person than just that. it shouldn't be the definition of you.

a person's career is really just a means to an end, yet somehow, society (and I means what they do general society) has made it the be all end all of life. It shouldn't be this way.

Some people are their job. This is not a bad thing if it means they love what they do and it’s an integral part of their being. We spend nearly half our waking hours—some more, some less— at our jobs—and some have spent many years learning how to do them. Why shouldn’t a major part of their self-worth derive from that? Frankly, I don’t care if my dentist is a talented viola player, super dad or world class beagle whisperer—what matters to me is how well he fixes teeth. I want my dentist to be someone for whom fixing teeth IS the be-all and end-all, not the means to an end. LDitto my shoemaker, my accountant , my kid’s ganenet and my restaurant server..

amother

Orange

Mon, Jul 16 2018, 8:48 pm

soap suds wrote:

I think most people have many aspects to self.

So a doctor who also sits on his shul board, who learns with his children, who is wonderful to his wife... may say : I am a doctor, volunteer, dad, and husband. And if something happens and he can't practice medicine any more - he's still left with other three - and room to add something new.

I'm not a medical professional. I do however work for a multinational company with reasonabley impressive title. I'd like to think if I were to to walk away from this (or be forced out of this) that my own sense of who am I won't change. But it probably will.

amother

Tangerine

Mon, Jul 16 2018, 10:36 pm

As a teenager, I was very academic minded (1500+ sat score) and an ambitious personality. I chose to enter a pretty run of the mill, not too academic field that to me is "just a job" because I felt that with my God given energy level I would not be able to be present for my family with a career.
Did I make the right decision? I think so. But it's not easy. Every day that I work at this job, I feel like the person that I am is dying a slow death. I can't help being jealous of the people who are managing to combine motherhood with a job that they find fulfilling, meaningful, and stimulating.

amother

Copper

Tue, Jul 17 2018, 4:01 am

I think because it's something we assume people had a level of choice over, so it reflects them in some way. A job also often reflects a person's talents or ability to work hard.

Really there aren't so many things you can assess a person with.

I value people based on the most salient, obvious things I know about them. So that is generally things like how nice they are to outside world, their job, any major volunteering or chessed that I can see, things like that. I won't value a mother just because she has ten children; that doesn't reflect on much other than the fact she is fertile. I would really have to know her personally to value her as a mother (even the fact her kids are well behaved doesn't necessarily reflect her mothering skills. You can be a great mother and still have challenging kids, and vice versa).

So a job/career, and an education, are handy observable ways of sizing someone up. Even a mediocre job tells you something about the person (she settled for a simple job because she probably wants to be more available for her kids, etc).