The myth of a job well done

From the April 25, 2008, edition of the Town Pages.

Somewhere along the line, and I can’t say exactly when, I convinced
myself that if only I owned my home the chores that might otherwise
seem tedious and unpleasant would be magically transformed. Somehow, I
reasoned, otherwise unappealing jobs like mowing the lawn, raking
leaves and making mortgage payments would be rewarding when I was
performing them in the interest of my own home. I believed the sense of
satisfaction that comes with a job well done would outweigh the
drudgery involved in getting the job done.
I am quickly coming to realize that this line of thinking is what the great philosophers refer to as "total bunk."
I moved into my house in November and, honestly, winter wasn’t too bad.
I don’t have a lot of sidewalk to clear, and it seemed like half the
time one of my neighbors would use his snowblower to clear most of it
before I got home. Apparently when you have a home with 20 feet of
sidewalk frontage you need to do something to justify owning a
gas-guzzling snow throwing machine. Whatever his reason, I was fully in
favor of the results.
Spring has been a different matter. I haven’t had to mow the lawn yet 
we’ll talk more about that in a bit  but I’ve spent a fair amount of
time already raking. It’s a job made more challenging by the fact I
have several large trees in my back yard. And by the fact the home’s
previous owner didn’t bother to do any raking of his own last fall. My
yards, front and back, were covered with a thick coat of leaves that
had spent months under a blanket of snow. The leaves seemed perfectly
happy to stay where they were.
I made a first pass at the back yard a few weeks ago, but that was more
out of curiosity than any interest in actually getting the job done
then. Once the snow had melted I started to notice there was a decided
lack of grass in the yard. Turns out, the grass in my back yard is
thinner than Nicole Ritchie on a diet. By the time I was finished the 
tips of my rake tines were encased in  fair-sized balls of mud and my
shoes were caked with enough gunk to make me a couple of inches taller.
I made another attempt at the job on Sunday. The front yard was easier.
There are fewer trees there, and there was at least a respectable lawn
underneath the leaves. In two-some hours of work I filled 10 bags  all
I had  with leaves. I’d also developed a sore back, a twinge in my
right shoulder and a healthy skepticism about the true value of pride
in a job well done.
I can take pride in painting a room or building something. Those jobs
take at least a little skill. Even if its your own yard you’re cleaning
up, raking is just dragging around a fancy stick. There’s no pride to
be found there. A moderately intelligent monkey could do it.
In fact, if you know any particularly sharp monkeys I’ve got more leaves to clear. I’d be happy to provide the bananas.

Nathan Hansen,
Editor