Eat, Pray, Work...

What is the role of love in work?

This fascinating question arises
from the experience of teaching in
an elementary school.
It would seem, first off, that love is
a double-edged sword. It can
provide great inspiration and take
us to lofty heights, but, as Eliot put
it, 'humankind cannot bear too
much reality..'

Again, it seems that society at least

pays lip service to the idea that
young children need large helpings
of love...
It also seems to be the case that in
practice, this type of socially
desired love diminishes in
importance pari passu, as the
person evolves into the adolescent
and the grown human being.
The investment banker neither
brings, age 25, to his job love nor
expects to receive it in the
workplace.

Now stand the argument on its

head. For love replace peace. In
such a Swiftian analogy, the older a
person became, the more
legitimate it would be to make war
on him. I need not spell out how
gory this would be.
So there may be ethical constants
such as love and peace which even
now need a closer examination,
and their desired deployment in
society needs a better definition.
Re love, it is at present left up to
the individual. It is a kind of add on.
If you can manage it, maybe
good... But at your own risk. The
key signature, the one with just two
sharps, is indifference; or at best, a

kind of controlling calculated charm

dosed with a small glimmer of
goodwill.
My quest for countries more nearly
expressing my ideal of love will
continue.
Meanwhile, Hungary has been an
excellent learning curve.