![Palmer, Alfred T.,, photographer.</p><br /><br /><br /><br />
<p>Operating a hand drill at North American Aviation, Inc., [a] woman is working in the control surface department assembling a section of the leading edge for the horizontal stabilizer of a plane, Inglewood, Calif....](http://s3.amazonaws.com/estock/fspid7/438600/wwii-factory-workers-438665-h.jpg "Operating a hand drill at North American Aviation, Inc., [a] woman is working in the control surface department assembling a section of the leading edge for the horizontal stabilizer of a plane, Inglewood, Calif. (LOC)")
The Buddhist point of view is that work has 3 purposes, to:
- give a man a chance to utilize and develop his faculties
- enable him to overcome his ego-centeredness by joining with other people in a common task
- bring forth needed goods and services
To simplify, we work to:
- Develop our unique skills (Do you know what these are? Do you work to develop them?)
- Think about other people (get over ourselves) (Many people say they do but… WOW it’s still all about them.)
- Make/provide stuff of value to others (This one is the easiest)
- There is an obvious #4. The reason most of us would say we work… to make money to live.
Just for today, When you are working, how about thinking about 1-2 instead of 3-4? In the photo, the woman probably had never used a drill before the war. Then suddenly, she had to become proficient for a greater good. What ways does your work help you develop your unique gifts and help others instead of yourself?
Photo credit: Operating a Hand Drill Library of Congress
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