To Do, or Not to do

"To do, or not to do " ( Inspiration from the opening lines of a poem of Hamlet "To be, or not to be" )
This article is just a similar internal conflict of whether one has to do his work on his own or employ others for his works. In the environment of Office, it is more or less defined which are the areas one has to delegate and which are the areas, one has to do on his own. The ambiguity is even lesser owing to the increasing work load which forces one to delegate appropriately. But in your Home?
Your personal Chores?

So should we do our work? At least petty works? Washing our clothes, Scrubbing the utensils, Cooking our food, Cleaning the house, Ironing and so on. It is of-course our work. Keeping a servant for our own work, is it justified?

Lets take the case of Mahatma. He made it a point to do his work on his own. He went to the extent of spinning his own clothes, Growing food in his own farms. Cleaning the toilets. His autobiography also mentions about his ordeal of trimming his hair himself.

But the talk of the town is division of labour. It is highly justified in leaving the hair dressing to the barber. The household works to the House Maid. The tailoring work to the tailor and so on. So Whats wrong? moreover, you are generating a living and ensuring the flow of money by delegating.

A deeper study of Gandhiji says, he was not totally against the delegation of the Household works. So why all the trouble in establishing the model farms. One of the most blatant purpose is to establish self reliance and self sufficiency.This gave Indians confidence and unity and defined a way of living which they can be proud of .
He made it a point that even his wife is not spared the task of cleaning the toilets. ( Richard Attenborough 's Gandhi is an easy ref for us ) . This takes us to the inner , in depth purpose of his acts. Every work has its own importance. Dignity of Labour is the point to be stressed. No work is to be looked down upon.

My conclusion in this dilemma is, We can very well delegate our house chores. But our attitude towards them is what matters. They are helping us in our work. It is not us who is doing a great favor by employing and paying them. It is them, who are doing a great favor to us by doing our menial work and giving us the precious time to engage in various creative activities. You are getting precious time for a paltry sum. I would also go to the extent of saying, good servants are god in disguise. Do recognize them.

Just employing servants does not absolve us of our moral responsibility of doing our chores.
May be, lets do our work once in a while, so that we do not lose touch in the work and also dont delve in lethargy. And of-course, to appreciate the dignity of labour and the perfection which we talk about only when the maid does the work and which always remains a distant dream when we do the work :)