Written by Gwydhar Gebien
EXT. SIDEWALK.DAY
GWYDHAR and BLUE DAMEN, the manifestation of her conscience, walk home from work.
BLUE DAMEN
You’re an idiot.
GWYDHAR
Why is that?
BLUE DAMEN
You say that “Work” is not a four letter word. It totally is.
GWYDHAR
I meant that people say “work” like it’s a bad thing and they’re not allowed to enjoy it. Like it’s something that they have to do as a means to an end instead of as an end in itself.
BLUE DAMEN
Work is the amount of force needed to move an object a given distance.
GWYDHAR
Sure in physics class.
BLUE DAMEN
It applies to jobs to: the amount of ambition you have multiplied by how far you want to go equals the amount of work you need to do to get there.
GWYDHAR
So how come people are always complaining about their jobs, smartass?
BLUE DAMEN
Because they don’t feel like their getting anywhere. Or they don’t have the ambition to go anywhere. Or they don’t feel like the amount of work they’re doing is worth the distance they’ve gone.
GWYDHAR
So it’s about accomplishment.
BLUE DAMEN
And novelty, yeah. Work is a lot of repetition.
GWYDHAR
I guess I can understand that. I appreciate my day job, but I go home feeling tired and like I haven’t accomplished anything. I keep long To Do lists that include lines like “get up†and “eat breakfast†so that I can cross something off each day.
BLUE DAMEN
Whine, whine, whine. You’ve got a n easy job. You make a few phone calls and deliver a few samples and take home a weekly paycheck.
GWYDHAR
I know, I know. Here I am whining ungratefully about such undeserved luxury, but I do so to make a point. The point is that many people like myself- artists with a bit of education and a cushy day job- often feel like the work that we do for someone else is somehow less valuable or important than the work that we do for ourselves.
BLUE DAMEN
It becomes just a job.
GWYDHAR
Yeah, and it’s so easy to feel entitled to a “good†job that none of us ever stop to consider what a “good†job is. A friend of mine forwarded me this video of Mike Rowe from “Dirty Jobs” giving a speech on work that got me thinking about all this.
BLUE DAMEN
Well it’s way easier to do a job that you actually want to do. Like if I actually wanted to walk all the way home I wouldn’t need a rest now.
They pass a bench by a bus stop and BLUE DAMEN sits. GWYDHAR takes a few steps before realizing this.
GWYDHAR
Why’re you stopping?
BLUE DAMEN
Physics.
GWYDHAR
What does physics have to do with anything?
BLUE DAMEN
Are you kidding? Physics apply to everything: A body in motion will remain in motion until acted upon by the need to rest, and a body at rest will remain at rest until acted upon by the need for beer.
