“All labor that uplifts
humanity has dignity
and importance and
should be undertaken
with painstaking excellence.” 
Martin Luther King, Jr. 

I will be forever grateful to have lived during the papacy of Pope Francis I. His vision, energy, positivity, and compassion for “the least of these among us” has inspired me and modeled for the world how we are all called to live our lives. With the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost, who chose the papal name Leo XIV, to serve as our next pope, I get a sense that the Church will be encouraged and challenged to revisit issues which Pope Leo XIII addressed in his 1891 landmark encyclical, Rerum Novarum (On the Dignity of Labor). 

The selection of a papal name is not random. The moment it was announced that Cardinal Prevost had selected the name Leo, it was clear that he intends to continue the work of Pope Leo XIII who championed the rights of workers and the dignity of both work and workers. 

This surely is an issue which needs to be addressed. We live in a world where people are judged by myriad factors, including one’s line of work. Think about it: cardiologist or housekeeper; attorney or farmworker; engineer or gardener; CEO or custodian; architect or fast food worker;… You can see where this is going. As a society, it’s clear that those employed in higher-paying jobs are more highly respected than workers earning minimum wage. It is also clear that many business owners treat their workers in ways which lack basic human dignity. 

The situation in our country has gotten so bad that some Americans would rather remain unemployed and rely on government assistance than take what some would consider a menial job. In an interview in the ABC News Special Report The Blame Game: Have We Become a Nation of Victims?, one young man, in response to being asked why he chose to remain unemployed when jobs were currently available in the fast food industry, blurted out, “Flip a burger? Are you kidding me? I ain’t gonna flip no burger.” 

It seems that too many young people today fail to understand the term “means to an end.” The news reporter was not suggesting that the young man devote his entire lifetime to working in a fast food restaurant. He was suggesting that starting with that kind of job would be a good way of beginning a history of employment which could open up greater possibilities for him down the line — a stepping stone to a preferred future. 

People who know me are aware of my four decades in education. Some know that, since my retirement in 2015, I have published six books and accepted multiple speaking engagements. What most people don’t know is that I also had a few “means to an end” jobs in my younger days, jobs which included landscape maintenance, flipping burgers at McDonald’s, summer camp counselor, night security guard at a cemetery, operations manager for a business machines company, tutoring, shipping and receiving clerk in a college bookstore, courtesy clerk in a grocery store, and PBX switchboard operator. I had no intention of making a career out of any of these positions, but all provided me with valuable experience which enabled me to move on with skills I had not previously possessed.

This seems to be an ideal time to dust off Pope Leo XIII’s document on the dignity of work and workers and remind the world about what the encyclical demands. Perhaps it will provide an opportunity to remind young people that they should not expect to live the lifestyle of their parents before doing the work which will enable them to live such a lifestyle. 

Author Charles J. Sykes was spot-on when he wrote, “Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.”