In a sense those who are self-actualized by their work are note really working from a philosophical point of view. This concept is seen by the fact that we pay many unpleasant jobs at a high level because the job is distasteful, not because it takes great skill to do it. An example of this would be garbage collector or sewer worker. Due to the pressure on men to either work or be seen as not having sexual value, it is more often men who will take these types of jobs, pleasant or not. These jobs may be low status, but they allow men to at least fulfill their perceived duty to feed their families.
The second facet is that men are adventurous. One of my friends who runs Warrior weekends does an exercise in which he has men talk about dangerous adventures they did when they were teens, adventures which in hindsight would seem imprudent today. Almost every man has done some type of activity which could have easily brought him to a terrible accident or death. He told us that when he worked with women's groups, he would do the same exercise, but the results were dramatically different. Few if any of the women ever did the adventurous things that lead them to dangerous, near death situations.
Our culture does not provide smooth transitions for males from adolescence to adulthood. Calculated rituals of passage, even though danger related, have ceased. Teens now create their own passages in gangs, alcohol and fast cars, body-harming sports, etc. -- all primarily without the guidance of fathers and culture. There is chaos out there for male teens! One result is an increase of male teen suicide. The Department of Health and Social Services in Wisconsin has just published data showing that between 1989 and 1990 alone the rate of 15-19 year old male teenage suicide increased 51 percent; the female rate in this same age group declined 13 percent. Perhaps young males now even see the attempt of suicide as a rite of passage for themselves. Unfortunately, too many are being successful!
Whether cultural or biological, men seem to take greater risks which effect their health and lives. This seems to be part of our acculturation as males. We desperately need rites of passage in which the older men of the culture can guide the male adolescents through this turbulent period of their lives. Without this passage, teens will continue their self-imposed rites -- rites never completed -- which leave them with an unfinished agenda as regards establishing a mature, stable manhood. Men continue to take these adventurous risks which affect their health and lives, and as adults seem to replay this role over and over within the confines of the workplace.
To be male is to work! This is a central truth to male existence. Men who work get respect and those who don't get, as the comedian says, "No F...... Respect!" It is as if we feel no place in the universe if we are not working. We males are not grounded to human existence when we do not work.
Men do not have child bearing as a singular point of identity and creativity as women do. Yes, men do have children, but there is a special feeling of meaning that women get from having the children grow within their bodies. I believe that men find their special sense of creating new life in the work that they do, in their career, their businesses, and on their farms. The new life they create emanates not from within their bodies, but from without. Work is necessarily associated with creativity for many men. It is at work that they create new life. it is at work that they create the being that allows them to have a sense of afterlife. Their work accomplishments live on after they die. Men want to leave behind monuments of their great deeds and accomplishments. This is their meaning in life, and their afterlife.
It is common for men to follow our role of the "Hero." The hero receives adulation and is made to feel that he is worthy to be a human; he is special. Recently it was reported in newspapers in Madison, Wisconsin, that a female police officer came upon a major car accident; one car was burning with an unconscious person in it. She calculated that it was too risky for her to attempt to enter it. She called for the fire department. IN the meantime, a man driving down the road saw the situation, stopped, ran over to the burning car, opened the door, and pulled the unconscious person out. Later, a review was done of the officer's behavior, and it was deemed that she acted appropriately. However, it is my view that men are taught that it is their role and duty to take adventurous and dangerous risks in the name of the common good. Some work roles had built-in heroic (and dangerous) elements such as a fire fighter. Fire fighters relate how the "old guys" took pride in the amount of smoke they could "take." This danger was in service of the community; that is what made it hero-like instead of stupid. Culturally, it is natural for a man to play out the role of the hero, but the dangers associated with this role lead to injuries and death.
Next month, the meaning of (male) life
Reprinted with permission from the author from the Winter, 1993, issue of Journeymen magazine
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