What happened to the idea that a rewarding and fulfilling job is a vocation for the common good, not a big salary and a huge bonus?
"Your life and mine should be valued not by what we take... but by what we give." -- Edgar Allen
"What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good." -- Aristotle
For me one of the biggest questions of our time is: "Why have we come to lose sight of values which are altogether more important in life?" The next big question, following on the one before is: "How have we lost the sight of significant values in life?" The answer that comes to my mind, first and foremost is: The love of “loads” of money and the worship of our own self-importance. “I am worth it! It cannot happen without me”!! Yes, me, me and me!!
See below for more reflection:
The love of money has corrupted our idea of public service
“Something peculiar has happened to the attitudes of those in public life towards money. Until quite recently, it was understood, if rarely articulated, that if you were fortunate enough to have an interesting, powerful job in a sector which did not generate huge profits, you would be less well-paid than someone in the drearier, more lucrative private sector.
Doctors, broadcasters, politicians, booksellers and teachers made choices which reflected both a personal preference and a small degree of morality. Today, there are millions of people who have made a similar decision: writers, painters, designers, or those working for charities, arts centres, citizen radio, online groups. They have concluded, rightly, that a satisfying job, even if it is ill-paid, will bring more fulfilment than a larger salary, miserably gained.
Yet for others, public service should now be rewarded at private rates. Away from depressing stories about the BBC, The Sunday Times reported that some senior doctors are claiming more that £150,000 a year for overtime in addition to their generous salaries. Senior executives on local councils behave similarly.
It is more than a question of morality. Those in public life who keep one beady eye on their own personal rewards and advantage are unlikely to be doing their job well. The problem is not, to borrow Michael Grade’s phrase, that they lack an understanding of the value of money but that they have lost sight of values which are altogether more important.”
The love of money has corrupted our idea of public service
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-love-of-money-has-corrupted-our-idea-of-public-service-8820168.html
And finally, to all those people blinded by “loads of money” culture and enslaved with too much narrow “self-interest” I offer the following. Read it and be enlightened to other possibilities. You may surprise yourself!