Trader's Joe, Cosby Show, and My New Job

There are all kinds of shaming nowadays on social media, fat shaming, age shaming, and the latest one was job shaming. Though I wasn't a fan of Cosby Show, I realized what a significant role it had in American culture. When the news of the actor who was the doctor on Cosby Show Geoffrey Owens was discovered working at a Trader's Joe, the news media made a big deal out of a prominent actor doing a minuscule job as a cashier. But in a subsequent interview, the 50+ year-old doctor shared that there was no shame in what he was doing so he could make ends meet while searching for the next acting gig, and he appreciated the accommodations that his Trader's Joe job was giving him. He was GRATEFUL for his work at Trader's Joe!

Did the job shaming news reporter think that getting a hand-out from the government would be better for the actor than having a legitimate job as a cashier? I feel that this is our overly obsessed materialism-status-power value system on full display. The diminishing perceived dignity of hard work is really bad news for a society that needs a thriving economy.

I could go on and on with all kinds of criticisms. However, as I was passing my judgment on this job-shaming reporter, tons of brick struck me! I suddenly realized that I am not much better than the reporter.

I am about to start a new job where hard work is needed and the pay is less than ideal. I have this fear about what will transpire out of this position that I am taking on out of necessity. I reminisced the good times I had at my last job where I felt I had more "status," though the compensation was not something I was proud of. I loved that job at the beginning, and I regretted that I did not value it as much as I should have and did not give my very best towards the end of my time there. My attitude was also the problem.

Now I see that I have similar if not worse of an attitude even before I start this new job. I despise the less than ideal pay and the status it carries. It is reprehensible, but I have to admit that there is not much difference between me and that job-shaming reporter in our thinking.

Unlike the world, God values hard work, no matter the status of the work. The first job that was ever created was gardening and zookeeper, it was manual work and it was HARD work. It was not the role of a president of an operation, because HE was and still is the President. He wasn't looking for someone with letters behind his/her names or someone who had specific skillsets or certain aptitude test scores. He was looking for someone who was FAITHFUL to do what he/she was tasked. Geoffrey Owens would be the kind of worker God was looking for to tend to His newly created garden.

Lord, forgive me for thinking like the world! Help me to see the work you have tasked me with as sacred, and help me be faithful even when things get tough.