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Sam Redlark's avatar

I recently met up with an old friend who works in tech support for a major bank. Much of the work that was once carried out in the UK by his department has now been outsourced to locations on the other side of the world. My friend was of the resigned opinion that his job would soon undergo a similar virtual migration, leaving him behind. As we conversed, he was coding on his laptop. I asked him what he was writing. He told me it was a piece of software that would encourage better coding practice among the bank's outsourced employees since they often cut corners and it was causing problems.

That didn't seem right and it still doesn't. On the face of it, the bank would seem to be willfully replacing competent employees with individuals who are either unqualified to do the work and have perhaps bluffed their way into a position, or who do not care enough to perform their duties to even an acceptable standard. My friend's program, whose aim was to encourage these new workers to carry out their role more diligently, seemed easily circumvented and doomed to failure, although I commend his effort to swim against the tide in a company for whom efficiency has become analogous with the bare minimum.

It seemed alien to me. I have never worked anything other than minimum wage jobs. Wherever I landed, I always looked for meaning: How does what I do fit in with the rest of the organisation? When I worked at a large NHS hospital, despite my strong dislike of networking, I cultivated relationships all over the site and it paid off, knowing who did what and who to talk to to resolve a given problem.

I understand what my general purpose is in the world: It's to look after chameleons and write peculiar novels. An understanding of one's purpose in the professional sphere is essential if you are to engage with the work in a way that is meaningful. Once a sufficient number of people no longer know what that purpose is, things can only fall apart.

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Byron Henderson's avatar

An excellent essay. The Church Fathers noted that "a man may find God while watching a fox cross a road" (paraphrasing from memory). It's a statement on the mysterious (or "sacramental", as the West refers to it) nature of life--it's connectedness. The understanding of Communion, as opposed to simply "relationship", is central to the teachings of the Church. "My brother is my life" is another statement by an Orthodox Saint that speaks to this.

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