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I haven't read all of this thread but imo, "hard work" depends on the person. What may be hard for one may not be so difficult for another. Example, two mathematicians solve the same amount of similar types of mathematical problems, however, for one it was a breeze and only took about a week. For the other, it was extremely difficult and it took a year. Who worked harder? I'd say the latter. Maybe that's not the greatest analogy but, hopefully, you all get my point. Hard work, to me, is how much effort (be it physical or mental) a person puts into a task.
What do you mean when you say that somebody "worked hard to get what they got"?
Person A is a villager in Indonesia, and destroys his body by the age of 40, bending over in a rice field all his life, for a dollar a day.
Person B sits in an ergonomic chair in a cubicle at a constant 72 degrees, wearing Gucci shoes, and makes as much money as 200 villagers.
Is Person B entitled to gloat "I worked hard for what I've got"?
Absolutely he can say that. If you look at "hard work", and estimate it's value only in terms of physical sweat, then person B isn't worth much.
But the world is changing...technology is freeing man from manual labor wherever applicable (except for example, pineapple farms. Those still have to be hand picked). The problem is that the liberation from said labor is copywrighted and that indonesian farmer has to pay for the new invention. The other problem is that governments are only to happy to sell him out for votes.
But what you present is a classic description of "anti-intellectualism". I would not say that person B is more useful than Person A. But someone has to manage the circumstance and balance the company. It's actually harder to ship goods and make the contacts and distribute the wealth and ecology of a company than it is to pull turnips out of the mud.
Think about the myth of Sissyphus, here. I've been blue collar and white collar in my life. I'd rather be blue collar because when the day is over, you're free. You don't have to worry about someone calling you after hours about the shipment of turnips that got held up in Hong Kong or the turnip-picker who's late for work because he's strung out on drugs or whiskey (to be P.C. you can't even fire the slothful turnip farmer anymore. wtf?)
So, I believe "hard work" is what someone makes it. Someone can be a lazy turnip farmer or a high-speed executive. A person can work just as hard with their brain as they can with their hands.
Let me pervert the old socialist dogma before I check out..."WORKERS OF THE WORLD...WHINE!"
Volition is an important element. Building a house is hard work, but if a wealthy person who can easily afford to pay someone to build a house, but elects to do it himself as a "hobby", that does not qualify as "hard" work, it is just pleasurably work, like working up a sweat playing beer-league slow-pitch.
Work crosses the line from "fun" to "hard" when you have no option to walk away without economic ruin, and you have an overseer that compels that you maintain a tiring pace.
When chain gang convicts were sentenced to "hard labor", that did not mean that they had to sit in the shade with the shotgun, petting the dogs and rationing out the water.
Is physical labor and mental labor compariable in the US? Probably not. I've never done hard physical labor like some examples in this thread, but I was a street performer for a decade and that was pretty physical. I also lived out doors for months at a time and the life style made me physically strong. OTOH, I never experienced the strain the brain like I do now.
Just base it off how many calories are burned in the process.
That is not the only factor. Other factors are, working stooped over through the whole day, carrying back-breaking loads, working without any safety or protective amenities at all or even shoes, denied access to drinking water, no benefits whatsoever, working in unsanitary conditions, women working with their babies strapped on their back, children working at an early age, working in spite of severe illness, or physical deformities, etc etc etc.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88
Volition is an important element. Building a house is hard work, but if a wealthy person who can easily afford to pay someone to build a house, but elects to do it himself as a "hobby", that does not qualify as "hard" work, it is just pleasurably work, like working up a sweat playing beer-league slow-pitch.
Work crosses the line from "fun" to "hard" when you have no option to walk away without economic ruin, and you have an overseer that compels that you maintain a tiring pace.
When chain gang convicts were sentenced to "hard labor", that did not mean that they had to sit in the shade with the shotgun, petting the dogs and rationing out the water.
you are wrong!!! i rebuilt the house that we live in all by my self and for one it was hard work building 400 ton stone walls... some days i had to mix 4 tons of concrete by hand and carry it up latters and pour it in place for 9 hours strait till i was stagering.. it was the hardest job that i've ever done in my entire life... and i almost got major injurys building the 400 ton stone walls like a broken back.. i had a lot of close calls for injuries!!! and that was just the stone walls no to mention the 50 tons of mahogany trees that i got and milled all my self and designed and built all the wood work from total scratch.. i have had alot of contractors that have come to see the work that i did here and they can't beleave i did the entire job myself... alot of realtors say that this house could make the cover of architectural digest magazine when i am totaly complete with it..beleave me it was not fun..sitting at a computer can't even come close to what i did.. and i've done alot of different types of jobs.. it realy just comes down to how hard you wan't to accomplish somthing some people push themelves alot harder that others.. if it was not for my brutal aproach i could never have done this job all by my self.. and i never woked as hard at someonelses jobs as i did here..it's one of the most detailed houses on the island and one of the most unique..and i did not have to do the entire job myself i could have hired a helper but chose to do it all my self..
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