Living for the Week

Today I intended to catch up on some work I missed this week. So of course, by 2pm I found myself watching Philadelphia - remember that movie? I assume everyone does, it was pretty huge.

Something that struck me at the beginning was this: Andy Beckett had HIV and was getting progressively more sick. Yet he kept working.

There are lots of possible reasons of course (the most compelling being that there is no reason, he didn't exist before minute 1 of the movie), but it got me thinking about work, and what sort of commitment we should have to it.

I have a PhD (well, technically I'll have one in about 14 days, though for all intents and purposes I've had one for about 6 months). That means I have 8 years education in Physics. And in fact my education continues. I still have a supervisor who I rely upon, I still read textbooks and review articles, I'm still learning new techniques and how to apply them. I find all this very satisfying - I also find it easy to procrastinate of course! - but it's very satisfying.

In some very real sense, I am living for my work. I don't go to work solely to support my family, but I also like contributing to society, and I like applying my training etc. These are really great gifts from God.

Another story: I have a friend who recently broke up with his girlfriend. One of the reasons it ended was because they had different values. She values relationships and family and do-gooding (at least in principle) whereas he values his career and getting ahead.

I don't know if this is such a bad thing. I mean, he should value do-gooding of course. But otherwise, why is he obliged to value family and relationships over work? Is there a biblical principle that can be applied appropriately here? Maybe Michael Hill's mutual love relationships? (The idea that ethics is not based on the individual, but two-party (bipartite, bilpolar? i forget) relationships. Maybe there's something in that line of thinking?) I don't know...

Anyone?