{"id":13256,"date":"2020-04-20T11:38:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T15:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=13256"},"modified":"2020-04-20T11:38:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-20T15:38:00","slug":"what-recovery-culture-can-teach-us-about-the-meaning-of-work-im-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2020\/04\/what-recovery-culture-can-teach-us-about-the-meaning-of-work-im-in-america.html","title":{"rendered":"What recovery culture can teach us about the meaning of work: I’m in America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

magazine, though also country:<\/p>\n

\u201cThings began to come together. I got a job scrubbing toilets, that honestly I am grateful for. It taught me about humility and showing up to do a good job, no matter what job I\u2019m doing. It stripped me of my ego in the best possible way.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a description of life in early sobriety written by Hannah Lund<\/a> in 2017 for The Voices Project<\/a>, a grassroots recovery organization. It is an especially clear and concise statement of an understanding of the purpose of work, from a perspective shared through much of the 12-step or \u201crecovery culture\u201d world. There is no requirement to hold a particular belief about the nature of work in order to practice 12-step recovery, nor is a specific philosophy of work part of the written traditions and literature of Alcoholics Anonymous. What I call the recovery attitude toward work is a tendency, not a principle. You do not need to think this way in order to get sober through the 12 steps, let alone to recover from addiction by one of the many other paths that work for many. And yet attending to the implicit theology of work that has developed \u201cin the rooms,\u201d as they say, of Alcoholics Anonymous and its affiliates can help all of us think through the deeper meaning of work.<\/p>\n

Outside recovery culture almost nobody talks about work the way Hannah Lund does. Bureaucrats, policy wonks, politicians and activists rarely praise work for its simplicity, humility and ability to strip the ego. When they describe good jobs they do not talk about scrubbing toilets. Perhaps surprisingly, Catholic leaders do not often talk like Lund either. When popes explain the economic and social teaching of the church, they praise work in terms that would be totally alien to the recovery attitude.<\/p>\n

The recovery attitude offers only a partial account of work\u2019s purpose, but its insights can make the Catholic understanding of work more complete, more honest and less sexist. Recovery culture can illuminate what we need from work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

more<\/a>; I should say that the Covid-updating of this piece was last-minute and clumsy, which is my fault, and should have included some discussion of the way \u201crespect\u201d for essential workers can become a substitute<\/em> for support rather than a spur to support. Also lol this is the single most \u201cthose who can\u2019t do, teach\u201d article I\u2019ve ever written, in a career notable for its can\u2019t-do-teachiness.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

magazine, though also country: \u201cThings began to come together. I got a job scrubbing toilets, that honestly I am grateful for. It taught me about humility and showing up to do a good job, no matter what job I\u2019m doing. It stripped me of my ego in the best possible way.\u201d This is a description […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,177],"tags":[202,52,55,264],"class_list":["post-13256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mackerel-snapping","category-too-much-is-never-enough","tag-et-exaltavit-humiles","tag-if-whiskey-were-a-woman-id-be-married-for-sure","tag-prayers-to-ven-matt-talbot","tag-work-is-a-four-letter-word"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat recovery culture can teach us about the meaning of work: I'm in America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"magazine, though also country: \u201cThings began to come together. I got a job scrubbing toilets, that honestly I am grateful for. 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