The
term “martyr” somehow has great awe and glory attached to it. The moment you hear the term “martyr” in any context, you
are more often than not inclined to believe that the person in respect of whom
martyrdom is being discussed certainly gave up his/her life for a selfless or
noble cause. To fully appreciate the
meaning of this and get the right perspective of the point that I am trying to
make, let us look at some common definitions:
“Martyr
is a person who suffers very much or is killed because of their religious or
political beliefs, and is often admired because of it”:
(Source: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/martyr)
“Martyr
is a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing
to renounce a religion (Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/martyr)
“Martyr
is a person who sacrifices something of great value and especially life itself
for the sake of principle” (Source: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/martyr
It
is reasonably clear from the above definitions that martyr is a person who
suffers very much or voluntarily suffers or sacrifices something of great value, especially life for the sake of some principle that is much more precious to the martyr than life itself!
In
this context, the term “Work Martyr” would mean a person who suffers or
voluntarily suffers or sacrifices his life for work for the simple reason that
he/she assigns more value and meaning to his/her work than life itself. You might be wondering why I am inclined to
write on this subject. Well, off lately, I have seen many people around me, happily
and voluntarily jumping into the funeral pyre of martyrdom in their
professional lives. A lot of my friends, and acquaintances attach divine value
to lopsided work culture and work ethics.
It appears to me that they live to work rather than it being the other
way around. They assume the title of
workaholic with immense pride and joy. They suffer from the illusion of control
and in their imaginary world, they are the leaders of their team as they suffer
from a misconceived notion that their office would fall apart in their
absence.
I
feel nothing but immense pity for these Work Martyrs. Whilst I am in no way advocating that you
should not value your work and/or shun efficiency, dedication or ambition. It
goes without saying that you have to give your best shot to whatever job you
put your hands on and strive for excellence in every endeavour. But it equally
goes without saying that in the process of striving for excellence, you should
not end up putting all your eggs in one basket. It is imperative that we assign
values to various aspects of our life in a fair and reasonable way. In the
process of being crowned as the best worker, it is essential to ensure that you
do not end up uncrowning yourself as a better human being or a better friend,
son/daughter or spouse. If you work in
an organisation where you feel guilty if you leave on time, then it is a cue
for you to pack your bags and move on for the simple reason that there is no
co-relationship between late hour’s session in office and the efficiency of
your output.
By
being a Work martyr you not only sacrifice yourself for a cause that may not be
meaningful to you in the larger schemes of things; but you also end up
martyring your peace of mind, friends, families and personal space. In the long run, you will only regret if you
wake up one fine day with salt and peppered hair to a sad realisation that what
you eventually ended up sacrificing was not worth the sacrifice.
So
my friends, please strike a balance and do not enter into the arena of
martyrdom mindlessly as your life and time is too precious for you to while in
just one aspect without fully and completely enjoying and cherishing all the
colours of life.
