In America, today we are celebrating Labor Day. For the purposes of this post and its subject, I am going to skip over the history of this holiday and just focus on the first word - Labor. More commonly known as work ... Oh boy, here we go ... 😉

Following up on my earlier Chapter 1 post on adding value to our Steem blockchain, I would like to celebrate our national holiday by talking about the most fundamental part of addressing what it takes to add value. To anything! Let alone our Steem blockchain ...

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Starting off with a little humor, we can all appreciate the creativity of the person who first came up with this clever illustration. On a more serious note, we probably all know people similar to this person. We may have to work with them. Even worse, we may actually have to do a considerable amount of their work!

Work? Work! Oh, how much we appear to despise that simple 4-letter word in our culture today .... What is behind this?

The "E" Words - Earned vs. Entitled

Growing up and into my early adult years, I have no recollection of hearing the second word used in any conversations. The first one, though, I heard all the time. Starting in my home. I was raised with it.

If I really thought I needed something, there was never any question about how I was to go about getting it. Go to work! Earn it!!

How about today? Would I get any argument if I were to suggest to you that we hear reference to entitlement all the time? What has happened over a relatively short time to make such a big change?

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There seems to be a slow, but relentlessly advancing cancer in our society that we are owed. Full stop. Period. No reference is made to earned. That has nothing to do with it.

We have become increasingly more isolated somehow from what it takes to generate anything of value. Effort. Work. In its place, stated simply, is a growing attitude of "something for nothing."

Wow!! How do we think that is going to "play out?"

Law of Sowing and Reaping

We all love the idea of free will. "I can do whatever I want ..." Sure you can. There is only one problem. There is no doubt we can do whatever we want. We truly do have a free will. That decision is left up to us. What is not left up to us are the consequences of our free will decisions.

There are many ways today we might hear more or less the same idea covered. Some call this karma, for example. I prefer "we reap what we sow." There is something fundamentally sound about ideas that are literally rooted in our past, as most all of us historically have come primarily from an agricultural background.

Since the beginning of time, I would suggest to you the idea that someone would be able to harvest something, when nothing was ever planted, let alone cultivated, etc. was simply unthinkable. No one would ever conceive of such an idea.

As we've progressively gotten farther away from "our roots," so to speak, we've clearly lost sight of this basic principle. Something never comes from nothing.

But there is more still to this idea of "reaping what we sow," as our forefathers well understood from hard experience. In my recent post on working two years as a hay farmer, I learned firsthand what follows.

No matter how hard we work, we still have no guarantee of getting a return on that investment. No matter how faithfully and diligently a farmer works, there are still circumstances affecting the outcome of any growing season which are simply beyond his control.

Nonetheless, the farmer doesn't just quit. Lay down and give up. Wait for something to "fall out of the sky" into his lap, while he is laying there. No! He stays at it!!

From the beginning of time, there have always been short term setbacks, generally speaking, but hard work and perseverance through it all generally prevails over time.

Application to our Steem Blockchain

While most of us have not had any real experience with farming, we all have experience with our Steem blockchain. At the core of one of the most common complaints I've seen in my short time "in here," is the unwillingness to put in the time and effort needed to have some success. Way too many "shortcut schemes" going around ...

Do I hear a hearty "Amen!" in the background from "brother @tarazkp?" 😊

Seriously, this Steemian is far more eloquent on this topic than I. Having followed him for awhile, he consistently talks about it. And he isn't just "spouting off" over something he read in a book or something. No. He is talking from hard experience. Reading this post from him will give you the general idea.

Even with a lot of hard work, we still have no guarantees of success. This technology is very new. In its infancy really. We all have hopes and aspirations of what might be. But, there is no guarantee.

We can only hope the creative genius behind the creation of it will ultimately prevail over any challenges. And that our collective efforts will pay off. Long term!

Closing

There will be future installments on this topic from me. Almost guaranteed. I am passionate on the topic of creating value. They will almost certainly return to being more narrowly focused on specifics associated with our Steem blockchain.

There can be, however, no escape from what I have written here. Controversial for some perhaps. A little too strongly worded for some? Perhaps. I welcome any questions, comments, and / or concerns you may wish to voice in response. They truly are all welcome.

All the best to you for a better tomorrow, as we all work together to build our Steem Community! 👍 😊

Respectfully,

Steemian @roleerob

Posted using Busy.org and "immutably enshrined in the blockchain” on Monday, 3 September 2018!

If you enjoyed this post, perhaps you would also find these posts of interest / value:

• Essential Foundation for Good Business
• Liberty: Land of the Free, Home of the Brave
• Observations: Words Matter
• Observations: Gratitude and the Simple Things
• HODLers of the World Unite!
• HODLer Alert! Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and Bitcoin
• Focus of our Time – This post won my first Steem award!
• Prosperity: Freedom and Opportunity for Ordinary People
• Reflections: Adding "Value" to the Steem Blockchain - Chapter 1
• Reflections: Curation and Pollination
• Reflections: My Life as a Hay Farmer - Won a Curie award for exceptional content!

Or, on the lighter side, this beginning of a series on some of my travels might be of interest:

• Travelogue 1: Birthplace of Montana – Fort Benton
• Travelogue 2: Giant Springs State Park in Montana
• Travelogue 3: Lake Quinault Lodge in Washington - Listed in a post about quality content!