Hello!
Hello, it's Tuesday!! Hello, it's Tuesday and time for Tuesday's
Musical Notes, the place where not only will you find a song that may
stick with you all day, but an occasional opinion that might change your
perspective...or not, anyway enjoy the music, cause it's coming to you
live...well as live as youtube can be...anyway let's get started with
today's TUESDAY'S MUSICAL NOTES!!!! Welcome...
"9 to 5" from 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs - Dolly Parton 1981
A
very few times in music history does a song resonate with fans so much that it crosses over genre boundaries. Dolly Parton's 1981 hit "9 to
5", from her 9 To 5 And Odd Jobs album, is one such song. It hit
#1 on the Country charts in January of that year and then soared to #1
on Billboard's Hot 100 the following month. It garnered an Academy
Award nomination and 4 Grammy nominations, winning 2 of the Grammys for
Best Country Song and Best Country Vocal Performance, Female that year.
It's empowering message became a rallying cry for the working (outside
of the home) women of the '80s. It was featured in the hit soundtrack of the movie with the same name (Dolly Pardon's screen debut), as well as a Broadway musical which debuted in 2008 that featured 20 new songs written by Dolly. "9 to 5" became one of those rare songs that spoke to folks and the struggle they sometimes have while being gainfully employed. It joined the ranks of many a "workin' man's (..PC persons, see how annoying that is) songs. Perhaps even a few of these came to mind...
The 20 Greatest Songs About Work - thepessimist.com
Shoe
shine boy...chicken catcher...farm labor...natural gas pumping station
maintenance...water valve manufacturer...hospital librarian's
assistant...retail assistant store manager...retail store manager...Worship Arts/Christian education minister. The evolution of a
working career. This makes for an interesting exercise, you should try it sometime! While these jobs were unique in their responsibilities,
they hold a couple of things in common. With each, I received remuneration for completion of expected tasks...I got paid for what I
did...and they all had challenges. From the list, you can perceive the challenges would have been very different. Some were very hard for me to do and others came more naturally. Each taught me something. Some of
them taught me that I did NOT want to do that job or have that career
for the rest of my life. The most important thing they taught me was that hard work was always appreciated. If not, by supervisors or coworkers, then by God.
Work or at least the payment for work has recently become a very hot topic. Perhaps you have heard something about this:
Fast-Food Protesters Arrested as Wage Campaign Escalates - bloomberg.com
I
find the conversation regarding minimum wage fascinating. Perhaps the
folks who were protesting a $7.50 minimum wage rate should have viewed
this chart before their protest:
List of Minimum Wages By Country - wikipedia.org
Yes,
people should make a decent wage, but who decides what is "decent"?
Please understand that the following commentary is made with compassion for those who are hurting and are unable to make ends meet. As a staff member of a church, we interact with folks every week who need
assistance of some sort or another. My heart goes out to those who are in their situation through no cause of their own. This is what Jesus commissioned THE CHURCH to do...not government. We are to be about taking care of widows and orphans and those who cannot help themselves.
This is made much easier when God's people give as he commands them.
Imagine a world where every person who says they are a Christ-follower
gave as much to their church as they do to good, "charitable"
organizations... but I digress.
In
a Business Law class that I took in college, the instructor put forth this premise...if we believe that America is a free-market society, why shouldn't WAGES be controlled by the market? This discussion came as we were discussing labor unions and their impact on early industrial revolution America. At that point and time and maybe in extreme cases now, a union is a good thing. Our professor went on to pose this question...what if everyone were paid what they were worth and there were no minimum wage? It boggles the mind... He followed his thought
process up with the theory that overall average wages would increase if
there were no minimum wage. Imagine the demonstrations if any
politician had the nerve to do a REAL study on the outcomes of
abolishing the minimum wage....now before you go thinking I'm snorting
Diet Mtn. Dew instead of drinking it, get past the emotion of the
conversation about wage rates and think about the concept just
postulated. What if you were paid based on the performance of your duties? ...the wisest man ever in the history of the world had some philosophies regarding work...
A man will be satisfied with good by the words of his mouth, and the work of a man’s hands will reward him.
There is profit in all hard work, but endless talk leads only to poverty.
The one who is truly lazy in his work is brother to a vandal.
A slacker’s craving will kill him because his hands refuse to work.
Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand in the presence of kings. He will not stand in the presence of unknown men.
Colossians 3:22-25
Slaves,
obey your human masters in everything. Don’t work only while being
watched, in order to please men, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the
Lord. Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong he has done, and there is no favoritism.
If
the aforementioned protestors put as much time, passion, and energy
into their jobs as they do in protesting, perhaps they would not be
making minimum wage, but be supervising those that do...In light of the
above scripture and based on what wages are in the US as compared to
other nations, $7.50 and having a job really seem like a blessing...
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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