Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness, may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question. There is certainly much work which is exceedingly irksome and an excess of work is always very painful. However, work is not, to most people, more painful than idleness. There are, in work, all the different grades; from more relief to the profound delight, according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the worker. Most of the work that most people have to do is not interesting in itself, but even that work has certain great advantages. To begin with, it fills a good many hours of the day without the need of deciding what one shall do. Most people, when they are left free to fill their own time according to their own choice, are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently pleasant to be worth doing. And whatever they decide on, they are troubled by the feeling that something else would have been more pleasant to do. To be able to fill leisure intelligently, is the last product of civilization and at present, very few people have reached this level. Moreover, the exercise of choice is tiresome in itself. Except, to people with unusual initiative, it is positively agreeable to be told what to do at each hour of the day, provided the orders are not too unpleasant. Most of the idle rich suffer from an unspeakable boredom. At times, they may find relief with the hunting big game in Africa or by flying around the world, but the number of such sensations is limited, especially after their youth has become a past. Accordingly, the more intelligent rich men work nearly as hard as if you are poor.
Work, therefore, is desirable, first and foremost as a prevention of boredom, although uninteresting work is as boring as having nothing to do. With this advantage of work, another associated advantage is that it makes holidays much more delicious when they come. Provided that a man does not have to work so hard such as to impair his vigour, he is likely to find far more zest than an idle man would possibly find.
The second advantage of most paid work and some of the unpaid work is that it gives chances of success and opportunities for ambition. In most work, success is measured by income and while our capitalistic society continues, this is inevitable. However dull work too becomes bearable, if it is a means of building up a reputation. Continuity of purpose is one of the most essential ingredients of happiness and that comes chiefly through work.
Q. On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes, using headings and subheadings. Use recognizable abbreviations, wherever necessary (minimum four). Also supply an appropriate title to it.
Work – Pleasant or Boring
- Doing wrk. leads to:
- happiness
- unhappiness
- Adv. of wrk.
- brings relief & delight
- prevents boredom
- makes holidays imp.
- Disadv. of wrk.
- brings boredom at times
- seems waste of time
- done something out of compulsion
- Why work is essential.
- gives chances of success
- opp. to fulfill the ambition
- builds reputation
- keeps continuity of purpose
Abbreviations Used
- adv. – advantages
- disadv. – disadvantage
- & – and
- wrk. – work
- opp. – opportunity
Q. Write a summary of the passage in not more than 100 words using the notes made and also suggest a suitable title.
Work brings happiness as well as unhappiness. It has its advantages, for example it brings relief and delight, keeps one busy and fills time usefully, it prevents boredom and makes holidays important and zestful. It has its disadvantages also as it brings boredom at times and seems to be a waste of time and it is boring when it is done out of compulsion. Yet work is essential as it gives us chances of success and opportunities to fulfill the ambition. It also builds the reputation and keeps the continuity of purpose.