三、做活就是做活了
王善人小時候，沈靜少言語，做事謹慎穩重，平時最歡喜沈思，一遇到有疑難的地方，一定思索如何去解結，追根究底地研究。
有一天，替東家扛活，吃飯時東家就喚他：「做活的，吃飯了！」王善人聽了心裡很不高興，心想，誰取這麼難聽的名呢？於是乎天天對著天問：「怎麼叫做活的呢？」在耕地時，就問牛：「怎麼叫做活的呢？」問來問去，因為太專心了，所以別人大聲說話，都變得很小聲，問到九十多天，對面的人說話，只看見嘴在動，聲音都聽不見了，到了第一百天時豁然開朗，終於明白了。
人做活，要「做活了」，不可「做死了」。在東家方面，因為有做活的人，所以園子、地裡的菜蔬糧食，才能夠種起來，一家子人才能生活。在做活的這一方面，因為有活做，所以才能掙到幾吊錢，養家活日，不只是這樣，做活的人若是把東家的事事物物盡心竭力地做好，一旦遇到急難，東家一定會幫忙的，也會有特殊的補貼，家裡也因此可以繼續生活，急難也因此而解除了。
這就是所調的「主有仁，僕有義」，雖然是東夥（東家和工人），無異至親好友，一心一德，互相關懷，互相輔助，這才叫「做活了」。一般的人雖然是在做活，但經常東挑剔、西挑剔，挑剔這個飲食不好，挑剔那個事情不好，只顧著多掙幾個工錢，也不盡心去工作，雖然是主僕（東夥），但是彼此之間的心就如同陌路的人，這就所謂「走一處，棄一處」，這就叫「做死了」。
待續 |
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To Earn a Living Is to Work Lively
In Good Man Wang's childhood, he was quiet and seldom talked. He handled situations with caution and seriousness. Usually he favored contemplation; he would think over whatever had puzzled him and thoroughly investigate it until he obtained a result.
One day, when he worked as a farm laborer, the employer called him for a meal, saying "The person who works, come and eat!" Upon hearing this, Good Man Wang was very upset. He wondered who had thought of such an awful name? So he kept asking Heaven day by day: "What does 'the person who works' mean?" When plowing in the field, he asked the cow, "What does 'the person who works' mean?" He kept asking over and over, and because he was so concentrated that people's voices became very low even when they talked loudly. After some ninety days, when people talked in front of him, he could only see their lips moving, but he could not hear their voices. When it came to the one hundredth day, his mind suddenly cleared up and he understood.
When a person works, he must put life in his job, and not work a job to death. Because the employer has a person who works for him, the vegetables and crops in the fields can grow and the whole family can survive. As for the worker, because he got this job, he can earn some money to sustain the dependent in his family. What's more, if a crisis arises, the employer will surely help him, and may give him a special allowance. If he strives to do everything well for the employer, it enable his own family to live on and the crisis can be resolved.
This is the relationship called, "the employer is humane, and the employee is righteous." Boss and employee in this way are like close kin and good friends who have same hearts and the same virtue. They care for each other and help each other out; this is what we mean by "to work lively." Ordinary people while they are working, find fault with this and that. They nitpick that the food is not tasty or criticize things. All they are concerned about is making more money, instead of giving their best on the job. They are employer and employee, yet they behave just like strangers. This is called "burning your bridges behind you" and is the meaning of "working a job to death."
To be continued |
