Make Yourself Useful!
This is part 3 in a series designed to give you a loftier and practical look at ethics. We hope to demonstrate why and how a deeper understanding of ethical concerns can be applied in your life – both personally and professionally.
“Food taken without work, is Theft.”
— Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma), Indian Political Leader, English Educated Lawyer, Spiritual Teacher, (1869 – 1948)
So this is about Trades, Exchanges and Ethics.
Trade:
What kinds of things can be traded? Well, everything! Every kind of physical “thing.” Food items. Clothing. Shelter and Real Estate. Money. Weapons. Everything our forebears traded with the natives or among themselves in the Agora (marketplace). Trade and exchange are at the center of every culture. All manner of Goods and Services. “I have this to trade for that…”
But wait; it’s not just physical things that can be traded; but also non-material things like work, words, compliments, insults, jokes, playful banter, wisdom, respect, commitment, teaching and service. These “things” are non-material. (No-thing.)
So, this is where “exchange” enters the discussion.
Exchange:
If you have money or stuff, transactions are easy, if a little bit pedestrian. But, if you “have” nothing, it’s a little more difficult to “trade” that for “something.” You have to be a little more skillful to turn your nothing into something you can use, spend or eat. That requires something of a slightly higher order; an Exchange, and perhaps an ethical one at that…
Here’s how exchanges work:
“I don’t have anything to trade you for that chicken you’re selling. So, there’s no transaction. But I could spend the day with your elderly mother with dementia, making sure she’s bathed and safe. Would that be a fair exchange?” We exchange two vastly different commodities: one “thing” for one “no-thing.” But it works, because in your mind, my “no-thing” constitutes enough value, that it’s worth your chicken. Mom stays safe, you can work the market, and I get dinner. Everyone wins.
A fair exchange… Why? Because instead of standing in the Agora looking hungry, I made myself useful and created value out of nothing. It’s magic and a little bit more lofty. Value does not reside merely in things. Exchanges are loftier than Transactions. There it is, the “Protestant Work Ethic.” Or, in Mom’s parlance, “I appreciate your angelic presence dear, but why not make yourself useful?!”
So what about Ethics?
Let’s check our Ethics History: Jeremy Bentham. “What makes some actions ‘bad’ is their lack of utility, their tendency to lead to unhappiness and misery without any compensating happiness. If a law or an action doesn’t do any good, then it isn’t any good.” The goodness is in the doing — not the having or being! It’s pretty much the same with people. Unfortunately, many people prefer to simply sit — doing, creating and earning nothing.
One’s mere presence has “costs” in “calories consumed” — food, shelter, oxygen and clothing. All of these are expensive; and must be obtained through trades or exchanges… Life itself can be seen as taking place within a “multi-dimensional fabric of trades and exchanges — an ethical network.” To “make yourself useful” is to create and enhance your value by creating and sustaining friction-less and trouble-free and valuable exchanges between yourself, your family and your various constituent groups. To the utilitarians, it’s not only being good, but doing good and reaching for the greater — even greatest good by adding value to every exchange and every relationship you touch or influence.
Don’t just sit there, make yourself useful!
Applications
1. Personally
“Do a good Turn Daily!” is an ethical legacy from the Scouting Community. But consider the greater good aspect if everyone not only did their job, but found an excuse to make themselves useful to another just one more time each day. Disposing of a piece of trash, helping another with a heavy door, making way for another to board the train, pausing on the street to allow another to go first all manifest what happens when we don’t merely occupy our space, but add to the greater good through action.
2. At Home
Somehow, the available space seems to be contested more than ever among our family members. We fight about a piece of pastry. We contest the rights to the bathroom. Then in a bid for peace, we all retire to our private screen worlds. And the “fabric of familial exchanges” goes dormant… Peace may not be preferable to life lived in a cocoon. Consider getting back into the fray with your family and exploring the power of enhanced exchanges to make love (if not peace) a reality. Consider a monthly project to improve the life of your family (or your community); the kids might begin to see the power of action for the greater good.
3. At Work
Too often, work devolves down to an endless series of repetitive transactions — with colleagues, teams — even the guy at the security desk. Each of those transactions has the potential to contribute to the greater good — if you act differently — and more humanely. A smile, a gift from the deli, a better pen, a favorite book, or a card — small active gestures remove friction and improve the quality and character of your work life. Transactions can become exchanges, and your work network can become more vibrant and sustaining.
Make yourself useful! Act for the greater good.
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