Addendum to clarify yesterday’s post
Working an unskilled, low-paying job makes me feel humiliated (as I shared yesterday), but that feeling is based on a lie. I have nothing but respect for those who work such jobs, which are usually far more taxing and less rewarding than typical middle class jobs. Minimum wage workers are usually treated like minimum worth commodities, used and discarded, so they have to survive in very difficult situations and are often treated with disrespect. It is not the job which is inherently humiliating, but the false valuation of society. I do not wish in anyway to lend credence to the notion that such jobs should be despised or devalued–it is a defect in myself, not in the work, which brings about my shame. Yes, feel with me my shame in an understanding way, “I would feel the same in his shoes,” but also realize with me that such shame is misplaced. Hard work is always a credit to the worker (unless the business is evil) and should never be seen as beneath us, beneath any of us. Honest work should always be a source of pride, never of opprobrium.
[*by “pride” I mean self-satisfaction, not self-aggrandizement]
Janathan Grace Reflections 
Didn’t think you were implying that in any way. Appreciated your post from yesterday… 🙂
Thanks for sharing. I actually have at least one web friend who works at Home Depot, so I didn’t want them feeling that I was dissing their job.
I love the way your mind works on several levels and can express it in multiple ways to show the various perspectives on the complexities of the truths of our humanity.
Thanks for reading and commenting, M! I’m glad you like what my mind does… some folks really dislike it!
I hear you on this feeling of shame over what other’s may consider menial work. I also feel you articulated this struggle clearly. I know that God’s perspective is totally different and that He values humility, service. So may we grow in aligning ourselves to His ways of valuing us, our work and each person we encounter. amen.
Thanks for reading and interacting, Esther. I find that the false values that are most pervasive in our society are usually the ones I have the hardest time escaping because they are constantly being affirmed and leveraged by nearly everyone around us, even fellow Christians. And the values that are based on unexpressed assumptions, even openly denied while fundamentally believed (rather than openly stated as a straightforward discussion) are especially hard to shake. May we encourage one another often in the ways of God.