Usefulness

I recently started to read aloud to my children "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis. I highly recommend it, as it is one of my favorite pieces of fiction. A short dialogue between two of the characters stimulated a few thoughts. One of the ghost people commented to one of the solid people that he would consider going to heaven if he could be useful there. The solid person said that he would be of no use, but he was more than welcome to stay. The ghost person decided that he would be of more use in hell, so he returned there.

We should avoid being shocked by the response, but instead consider what would motivate such a response. Some people are driven by the desire to be fruitful, productive and busy. Others are not so much, or even not at all. I believe the key factor in this is context. Consider being invited to a birthday party for someone you love but you'll only go if you can wash dishes and clean up afterwards. This would be a weird response. Or consider taking a job at a factory, but instead of working, you spend your time witnessing to your coworkers. Doing so would probably get you fired. So the answer?  The ghost person did not understand his context.

Our responsibility then is to understand every situation that we are in and then live appropriately. We can only say that it is good to be useful and productive if the situation calls for it. And then, by all means, be productive.

This is about priorities, about understanding, and about maturity. The person who can't sit down and enjoy ones company, is not thinking clearly.

Being useful is ultimately only as valuable as it is defined by the one with the authority.