Originally published as a monologue in Episode 11 of the Naujavan Podcast – What Drives Us?, October 2020
I am going to share a reflection about work and careers with you all. I hope that this reflection would create the space for you to have a conversation with yourself, within yourself. So often with podcasts, talks and other forms of content, we can listen to so many ideas and questions without actually taking the time to digest these ideas and ask the questions of ourselves. I for one know that I am often guilty of hearing but not understanding, seeing and not perceiving (Isaiah 6:9). So, I invite you to take the time and space now to journey with me. We don’t make this journey alone, but we trust and pray that God himself is a part of these conversations inside us, speaking into our souls. Let the Holy Spirit enter and do his work. Generations of people listening to God throughout the history of the Church have shown again and again that God is so often at his loudest in the silence.
Pause – We are ready to begin.
Let’s talk about work. It’s a big thing for the South Asian community. We are a people who are renowned for our hard work ethic. From our shopkeepers who serve 24/7, to the hospital wards where our doctors are running from patient to patient, to the quiet streets that we drive all night taking our visitors and our neighbours safely to their destination, which is generally to their beds – our own beds won’t be welcoming us till the dawn. Yes, I am playing off some stereotypes here. We all know that not every South Asian runs a corner shop, drives a taxi, or is doing 60-hour weeks as a doctor. We of course have scientists, teachers, and engineers. We also have many people in business. India is the world’s fastest-growing economy, and now the fifth-largest economy in the world, ahead of the UK. Excluding the effects of the draining rule of the British Raj, the Indian sub-continent has been the largest economy of the past two millennia. It has been a thriving hub of industry, culture, and philosophy. It is very clear from all this is that South Asians are serious about their work. Work is something ingrained into our history and our DNA.
Work is a significant part of our lives and to some extent, our identity. But what role exactly does work play in our lives? This is what I want to explore with you all. I specifically want to ask the question: what drives us? What drives us to work? What is it that drives us to keep pushing on with our work in all its forms? Why do we work and work in the way we do? I want to make two suggestions as to what I think might be significant driving forces towards work within our South Asian communities. I don’t claim that these are the complete, comprehensive or final explanations for what drives us in our work. I just recognise these as present in my own understanding of my South Asian identity, and I, therefore, wonder if perhaps others feel the same. I hope that as we talk about these two factors that we might be able to use it as a lens in which to examine our hearts.
Freedom
The first driving force that I want to suggest is freedom. Work can create so many different opportunities, many opportunities which are much needed. For all the success of India’s economy, it has been blighted by the immense poverty found within the shadow of its skyscrapers. Danny Boyle’s 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire offered a glimpse into some of the painstaking realities of poverty in India. In a sub-continent with profound challenges with poverty, work and its forerunner, education, are taken very seriously. Work and education provide the opportunities to escape and climb out of the poverty that has marked the sub-continent. Obviously, we know that not all South Asians at home and abroad live in poverty. Many of us, particularly in the UK, live very comfortable lives. However, excellent and hard work is still revered by South Asians today, and it makes sense after all because many are still fighting for their opportunity. The significance of hard work in education and the workplace as the key to freedom is still firmly impressed onto the South Asian psyche. Whether rich or poor, male or female, young or old, I think South Asians innately know that persistent hard work will be the key that unlocks the doors of opportunity they hope will open. Hard work is woven into the fabrics of what it means to be South Asian. It doesn’t just define a generation or a culture, but a history.
I also want to suggest that this mentality, where hard work brings freedom, has also translated into our lives in the UK today. But this is not seeking freedom from poverty; instead, it is about rising above social challenges. In a post-George Floyd world, we are all becoming aware of the additional obstacles that people of colour have to face. I wonder if after years of the British Raj that the importance of hard work has become paramount if we are to find a way to thrive with these challenges. Many of us can recall stories from our parents and grandparents, stories that recount when then immigrated to this country. Trademark features of these stories include coming to this country with only £1-5 in their back pocket, and all living in one room. When I heard these stories as a child, it seemed quite bizarre, but as I got older, I realised that these stories reflected the experiences of thousands of immigrants who had to dig deep to make a good life for themselves and their families. It was hard work that fought for the life they had, and it’s a hard-working attitude that we have inherited as a result – it drives us to fight for the lives that we have now. And so, we fight hard to thrive in today’s society. One could be excused for thinking that those of us who are second-generation and third-generation immigrants here wouldn’t have to deal with the discrimination and the challenges that our parents and grandparents faced when coming to this country. Yet, as we have seen plastered across the news and our TV screens, people of colour still face discrimination today. And though I would say that the challenges of today have changed from the 60s and 70s, they remain challenges for us nonetheless. Whether in work, education, social settings, or more, South Asians are still regularly faced with additional obstacles (especially at airports). I’m also very conscious that in the UK, particularly with all of the xenophobic sentiments that became attached to the Brexit campaigns of this past decade, many may feel persecuted and villainised in what is the only country they have ever known as home. We can feel that we are being asked to prove our loyalty to the country that we love deeply and hold as our home. With this kind of scrutiny, it is no wonder that we hold to our roots and hold deep, pushing and persisting with the hard work ethic that has brought us to this point so far – surely it will take us further to the next point?
Status
The second driving force I want to suggest is status. Status is a huge thing in South Asian communities. It is no secret to you or me that South Asians are proud people, very proud. Their pride extends to all areas of life, from sport to food, to religion, and (you guessed it) to work. South Asians are proud of their work, and they are very proud of their jobs. Work and career are giant pillars of South Asian identity. Now there is nothing wrong about being passionate about your work and proud of what you do – I believe that it is healthy that a worker takes joy and satisfaction in their work. However, I challenge you to ask yourself if you take pleasure from your work, or do you do your work for another reason? For many, it can be an escape from poverty. It is fair to say, as we did with the first driving force, that there is a degree of freedom that comes with working hard to get a job that will generate enough income to provide the opportunities that financial resources can offer. Many of us can recall countless times where we were encouraged to work hard to get a good job and to become a doctor, or if that didn’t work out, then there were other careers available. There is, of course, an element of freedom attached to work and career – they can be very freeing (though a better job is not a guaranteed path to freedom). However, I do not believe that the motives are always so pure. Now, having a good job is not a bad thing; a good, stable job is a positive thing and should be celebrated. Yet, I think the pursuit of a great job or career tends to be rooted more in the quest for status. South Asians love showing off their jobs to their families and their communities. And the only thing they love more than showing off their careers is showing off the careers of their children or grandchildren. We have all heard of aunties competing with each other about which of their children are lawyers, engineers, and of course, the holy grail career of being a doctor. There is so much competition that surrounds the workplace. There is a drive to have a better job than others, as though it will earn more social status and acceptability.
A good job will impress others, and an even better job will impress them even more. But to what end? You could be happy and content in your good and stable job as a doctor, but you then get asked when you are going to become a consultant. If you are a teacher, you may be expected to climb up through the school system to become a headteacher. But not everyone is meant to be a headteacher. Not everyone can do these so-called best jobs. Why? Because in a big operation, all the parts of the mechanism are essential, not just the big pieces. The American businessman Henry Ford was famous for how he mass-produced cars. The key to his success was the assembly line, where everyone on the factory floor had a part to play in the construction of the vehicle. In this setup, every worker mattered. Each worker had their unique job that was indispensable for producing all the cars that they did. Without everyone doing their respective role, the whole system would fall apart, which is why each worker in this model was as important as the boss Henry Ford. This is true of most jobs in any organisation and workforce, and also the Church, where we each have a part to play in Christ’s body: The Church (1 Corinthians 12:12-end). Senior workers tend to have more leadership responsibilities, but they represent another cog in the machinery like all the other workers. Yet why do we South Asians always seem to care about being the biggest cog? We know that everyone has a part to play, but we often feel that the top job is the only one that matters. To me, it looks as though there is a great sense of dissatisfaction if all that the worker can think about doing is trying to go one better. It may be for their own pride or social acceptability, or to impress the family and the community. Whatever it is, if this is your motivation for your work, I can pretty much guarantee you that your work will be lacking and will feel insufficient. The drive becomes about being better than others, to show that off, rather than doing an excellent job for the sense of achievement, or benefiting your community, or dare I say because it makes you feel happy. Comparison has always been the thief of joy, and I do not believe that this is any different when it comes to work. If work is centred around comparing ourselves to others for the sake of status, then we will always find that our work will lack real worthwhile meaning. Perhaps this is why I don’t always associate better jobs with greater happiness. Which is why I believe a tunnel-vision focus on status in driving our work can be so detrimental to the work, and us as the worker.
Pause – Take a moment to look at the importance of status in your life and how it could influence how you approach your work.
Who are we working for?
With these two driving forces of freedom and status, we have been talking about working for a particular purpose, either achieving freedom or status. But I want to challenge you to shift from asking what are we working for, to whoare we working for? And specifically, are we working for Jesus? Eugene Peterson translates Paul’s word in Colossians 3:17 most helpfully in The Message. Paul says, ‘Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.’[1] Here Paul is inviting us to do our work for Jesus, giving each word and action to him. It is Jesus, our Lord and God, who is the only one truly worthy. He is the only one to whom giving our whole lives makes sense; everyone and everything else falls short. In Jesus, we find satisfaction, love and rich joy for our lives. This is the God that promises us life to the full (John 10:10). When we chase freedom or status, we will always find ourselves in want. There is always more freedom we can try to achieve through work, but it doesn’t compare to the perfect freedom we find in Jesus. We can try to achieve a higher and higher status through our work, but it will never compare to being children of the king of kings. On our own, our drive to work can be lonely and ultimately limiting, but with Jesus, we have someone who works with us, through us, and for our good sake.
King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes that our work is meaningless, for it cannot gain anything in this life that will last. Everything we chase after will fade away or outlive us when we die. When we chase after freedom and status, it will never truly gain us everything we want, and even if it does, we will have to spend a lifetime working tirelessly to keep it, only for us to lose it all when we die. Instead, Solomon says, ‘A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?’ (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25).[2] When we try to work for our sense of meaning and happiness in the things of this world, we will not find satisfaction – it will feel meaningless to us. Whereas, we are invited to work and serve God, the creator of the universe, and ‘To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness…’ (Ecclesiastes 2:26a).[3] God destined our lives to be bound up with his, to be held in step with the rhythm of his heavenly melody. God calls us to live not for ourselves, but to live for Him and in step with Him – this is our created purpose. We are called to a life full of the fruit of a God who loves us, who gives us the eternal gifts of love, joy and peace. These are things that transcend all the rungs of our worldly values and sit at the centre of what one might call the good life. God created us to work, as we see in the story of creation, but he wanted work to be a fruitful and joyous work in communion with God and his creation. Work is a good thing in God, but away from God, we find ourselves East of Eden once more. Our created purpose is to live in fellowship with God, and I think if this drove our work, and work became about serving God and journeying with him in our every day, we would find that it becomes better than we ever thought it could.
Pause – Ask yourself, what would it look like to work for God in everything that you do. How will that shape your life?
Together we have asked some critical questions of ourselves. I want us all to take these internal conversations and reflection and offer them to God. Let us be moulded and shaped by God’s transforming and life-giving Spirit. Perhaps talk these things through with someone you trust. Maybe a family member, a friend, or a pastor. I pray that God will be working in you this very moment as we reach the end of this journey together. Work is freeing and does bring a sense of status. But is this what drives us? Does the pursuit of opportunities and acceptability drive our work? If it does, is this how you want to orientate your life? As South Asians, these things are deeply ingrained into our culture, and our upbringing. On their own, freedom and status are not bad things; they can be very positive things. However, if they are the driving forces behind our work, I can’t help but think that we are going to miss out on the life to full that is only found when Jesus is the centre of our work, our rest and our entire lives.
I’m going to leave you with some words of scripture from Romans 14:7-8. Paul writes, 7 ‘For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.’ (Romans 14:7-8).[4]
Bibliography
MSG. – Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishing, Inc.
NIV. – Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.
[1] MSG.
[2] NIV.
[3] NIV.
[4] NIV.
Shakeel Nurmahi 