The Rhythm of Work

Malgosia, Andrzej, & Marcin, sorting & bagging potatoes

There is a very well-known parable that goes something like this:
"A very rich businessman decides to take a vacation to a small tropical island in the South Pacific. He has worked hard all his life and has decided that now is the time to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He is excited about visiting the island because he’s heard that there is incredible fishing there. He loved fishing as a young boy, but hasn’t gone in years because he has been so busy working to save for his retirement.

So on the first day, he has his breakfast and heads to the beach. It’s around 9:30 am. There he spots a fisherman coming in with a large bucket full of fish!

'How long did you fish for?' he asks. The fisherman looks at the businessman with a wide grin across his face and explains that the fishes for about three hours every day. The businessman then asks him why he returned so quickly.

'Don’t worry', says the fisherman, 'There’s still plenty of fish out there.'

Dumbfounded, the businessman asks the fisherman why he didn’t continue catching more fish. The fisherman patiently explains that what he caught is all he needs. 'I’ll spend the rest of the day playing with my family, talking with my friends and maybe drinking a little wine. After that I’ll relax on the beach.'

Now the rich businessman figures he needs to teach this peasant fisherman a thing or two. So he explains to him that he should stay out all day and catch more fish. Then he could save up the extra money he makes and buy even bigger boats to catch even more fish. The he could keep reinvesting his profits in even more boats and hire many other fisherman to work for him. If he works really hard, in 20 or 30 years he’ll be a very rich man indeed.

The businessman feels pleased that he’s helped teach this simple fellow how to become rich. Then the fisherman looks at the businessman with a puzzled look on his face and asks what he’ll do after he becomes very rich.

The businessman responds quickly 'You can spend time with your family, talk with your friends, and maybe drink a little wine. Or you could just relax on the beach.'

 

Marcin going with the forklift to get another box of potatoes

For the first time, I have heard this story differently, and it wasn't when I was there on the farm helping with the work.  My new realization came when I was back in Bergen hiking, and I noticed how everyone walks at a different pace, with a different rhythm, depending on their goals, their destinations, and their reasons for being out on a hike in the first place.  This story is not just about contrasting the different values society places on work.   I had proceeded to write a diatribe on why some jobs are valued with higher wages over other jobs that are just as valuable but in a different way and came with salaries that were so much lower, and the rat-race we all find ourselves in because we want to "succeed" and make a "better" life for ourselves, blah blah blah.  Certainly, arguments could be made from both perspectives.

But, since I know well the motivations of both types of people and the types of lives that both lead, I notice there really isn't that much difference at their core.  The only real difference between these two types of people is the amount of money involved in their happiness, unhappiness, satisfaction, angst, fear, and security.  Every person, every family, experiences these emotional states, no matter how much money they make or how much freedom they perceive they have, or how much free time they think they have, or how much work they have.  So, rather than look at this story in terms of ideology or values, I saw from another angle the peace in this story:  A story of rhythms.

When thinking about how everyone lives their lives according to a rhythm, I am able to see why some work very hard and fast in order to accumulate as much money as possible so that they can take vacations and rest (in "The Tortoise and the Hare", these would be hares) and why some take their time and make a certain amount of money during their entire lifetime and take small rests along the way (the tortoises).  Neither way is better than the other because each one represents a choice that people make for what makes them content.  And only we can know exactly what that is for ourselves.  

Malgosia, preparing cabbage for market

Marcin and I, weighing the bags and stacking

 We are constantly making choices about how we would like to live and what is the best way to go about creating that life.  I believe that we, as individuals, are more responsible for our own satisfaction in life than any government, ideology, or religion.  I don't know what that makes me, for saying that, but it's what I see around me.  How else is it that my Polish family can smile in the face of selling their potatoes for 1 zloty (3.1 zl. = $1.00) per 15 kilograms?  How else can I make sense of my father, having earned so much money doing what he loved, laying in a grave next to his brother, who made nearly nothing, doing what he loved?

Andrzej

We must find the rhythm we love, that we vibrate best to, and live in that space.  Here is where happiness dwells.  Here is where fulfillment resides.  Here is where our needs are defined.  Here is where an abundance of that which is necessary to fulfill those needs is found. 


From this perspective, all judgment vanishes from my mind and my soul.  I can see people from literally all walks of life and notice the rhythms that they have chosen and to which they have become accustomed to dancing.  This is how I attempt to love every being I encounter:  by noticing and respecting their rhythm of living and cherishing the differences from my own,  much like each brushstroke of a master painter is one of many within a great masterpiece.


I am back in Norway now, and have learned so much from my visit at the farm in Poland.   My biggest lesson I guess is a dancing lesson.  I am already back into this rhythm here, and am grateful for having learned a couple of new dances!  


I will leave you with a short video which introduces each member of the family on the farm.  There are 4 generations represented at that little kitchen table, all hearts beating to the rhythm of the soup-bowl.