From "Work as a Spiritual Practice", by Lewis Richmond (for the Wells Fargo people)

"There was a time in the not-so-distant past when there was no such thing as a job, only hunting, gathering, farming, and some essential toolmaking. As work has become more and more specialized and divorced from its original purpose, it has become more difficult to endow work with intrinsic meaning and spiritual worth. Not too long ago, a shoemaker could walk the streets of his village and see the fruit of his craft on the feet of everyone who passed. His pride in his workmanship was not an abstraction. It was part and parcel of his personal relationships, his place in the community, and, ultimately, his place with God.

"When your job is to process credit applications for a multinational financial conglomerate, where is that pride? Where is that accomplishment? Where is that connection? It no longer comes ready-made with the job. You have to create it out of your own resources, effort, and sense of self-respect."