In fact, work serves us as more than a tonic or as a mere distraction away from the event that may have made us grieve deeply. It improves us as a person. It makes us master of our life. It makes us participate in the cleansing and improvement of the world about us. And it enables us to contribute to the progress of the human family.

Work improves us because through it we sharpen our wits and put our many talents to use. We often have to use our mind as we think through the many problems that come our way in the office, the factory, or the farm. We also have to practice many virtues in carrying out our many duties at work. For instance, we have to learn how to produce so much more out of so little. Then, there is the wide world of caring for so many people that come in contact with us as well as the others that we go to work for (our family, our immediate superiors, and even our community and the country as well). As a result of all these, we end up being busy and properly occupied, and ordinarily we come out on top as much better persons because we try to work hard and well.

Work does define our life. It is what we do that shapes what we are and what we become. How well or badly we perform our work can determine, to a considerable extent, our success or failure in life. There may well be other circumstances that can influence our life. And these at times may be decisive even though some of them may well be outside our control. Nonetheless, for the most part and for many of us, success or failure at work would translate into success or failure in life as well as into our standing in the eyes of others in society.

Work makes us participate in influencing the environment around us. There is so much wrong that must be righted, and so much dirt that must be cleaned up. Often, the structures in society need to be revamped and solidified. In order to do so, hearts need to change, minds need to be reoriented, and consciences enlightened. And new structures need to be built and strengthened. In fact, the work of creating a better, cleaner world, and one so much more conducive to virtue never stops; and we are all asked to participate in this.

It is against this larger perspective that we can view our work as a way of maintaining and developing our humanity. Clearly, there is so much more to work than the food we can eat, the provision we can bring to our family, and the pleasures and a few luxuries we can enjoy together with those closest to us. There is also our personal self-realization from work because it enables us to become what we have been gifted to develop into. Finally, there is the progress of the human family itself. This includes its many different components from the family we are supposed to take care of to the country that we must help develop. In every case, we should contribute towards such progress mainly because of the good work we do and the goodwill with which we do it.

As the saying goes: No pain, no gain. There may be many pains we encounter at work. But there can be many considerable gains we achieve through our work.