Beech Tree News Network

Did you see the news story about the woman who took the picture of Geoffrey Owens bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s?  Owens played Elvin Tibideaux on the Cosby Show from 1985 to 1992.  The woman who took the picture sent it to the Daily Mail then Fox News picked it up and a Twitter storm erupted, mostly slamming Fox News for shaming Owens for working for a living (newyorker.com).

In one interview, Owens said he was so embarrassed for his wife and kids until he started getting all kinds of support and encouragement online.  The incident actually opened opportunities for him.  Owens was offered a spot on Tyler Perry’s drama that airs on Oprah’s network OWN, as well as a guest spot on an upcoming episode of NCIS New Orleans.  

I really like Owens’ perspective on work.  He told People magazine, “I hope my experience will reshape what it means to work, the honor of the working person, and the dignity of work.”  He went on to say, “There is no job that is better than say another job.  It might pay better, it might have better benefits, it might look better on a résumé and on paper.  But actually, it’s not better.  Every job is worthwhile and valuable.” (people.com)

I used to say I wish I had learned the carpentry trade, so I could see the result of my work.  That’s before I understood that the most important result of work happens inside a person, not outside.  T.S. Elliot said, “There is only the trying.  The rest is not our business.”   Work changes us and it changes the people around us.  Work makes room for us.  It opens doors for others to come in and join us, become part of us and our world.  We help each other.  We change one another.  I see it every day at my work.

Recently, a young man, who is part of a lucrative family business, came into our shop.  I asked about his dad, who is now retired, and the young man began to tell the story of how his father came to be in the business.  His dad had only a ninth grade education when he began as an apprentice under a local man who owned his own business.  After the young man’s dad learned the trade, he began doing side jobs on his own.  The side jobs soon turned into his own small business.  After his sons became of age, they too were trained and brought into the trade.  That one man’s willingness to put himself out there, his willingness to try resulted in the changing of other people’s lives, their very worlds.

Garey’s dad, J.D., used to say to his grandchildren, “Come stay with me, and I’ll teach you how to work.”  At the time, I resented that, because I didn’t yet see the value of work.  I just thought he was looking for free labor, and I didn’t want him to put my daughters out in the fields like he had done to Garey and Charlotte.  

Garey taught our daughters the value of work by giving them a watermelon patch to tend.  He praised their efforts, set them up at a stand where they sold their crop then let them keep the proceeds.    

He is doing the same with our granddaughter.  They raise sweet potatoes together.  She helps set them out, weed them then dig them.  He sets her up at our shop in the fall, where she sells her crop.    Recently, she said to me, “I’m a good worker, Gee.”   When I looked at her, she was just beaming with pride.  She felt valuable.   It is the self-worth that is the great reward of work.

One day, when I returned home after a very taxing day on the job, my granddaughter asked me to play with her.  I told her it had been a hard day and I needed to rest for a while before we played.

“All you do is walk around and tap on a computer,” she said.

I laughed at her child’s perspective of my work, and I thought about all of the jobs people do that have difficulties that aren’t always apparent to the outsider.  There is an elderly cashier at one of the Walmarts in Bowling Green.  I see her almost every time I visit the store.  You can tell she has arthritis in her hands, and sometimes you can tell she is just exhausted.  She is always kind and helpful, and she is an inspiration to me, because she does her job without complaint, even though she must surely be in physical pain.  She probably works to supplement her social security, but she is free of self-pity.  She has self-worth, and I’m sure she knows, like Geoffrey Owens knows, that “every job is worthwhile and valuable.”