CFC Blog #160: Primary and Secondary Purpose

We live in a world that measures the value of person or a company by asking ‘how much money can you generate for me?’ The default is to measure with a financial meter stick. While I think we are starting to see pushback against this in the corporate sector with ESG investing and the NGO sector with holistic measurement tools like the Human Development Index, Candice’s writing is an important reminder that too often what we think is an end with itself (e.g. income) is really just the means to an end (e.g. dignity and connection). And this is such an important reminder when thinking about the future of our world.

Originally from the Starfire Blog: https://www.starfirecincy.org/cincibility/2019/9/13/primary-and-secondary-purpose

- Lauren

Primary and Secondary Purpose

At a recent celebration of a past teacher of mine, a keynote speaker told a story of a purpose.

A city dweller had purchased land on a whim in the countryside and had forged a connection with the farmer next door. After some time, the farmer, unable to care for the land alone, found himself preparing to move into an assisted living home. The city dweller purchased some of the farmer’s chairs and stopped by to pick them up. The farmer remarked that he was grateful that someone he knew and cared about was taking the chairs. Surprised by this, the city dweller inquired why - they were nice, solid chairs, but certainly not heirlooms pieces.  What was it about the chairs?

The farmer said that the chairs primary purpose of course was for sitting, and that over many decades those chairs had served he and his wife well in that regard. But their significance was not in the primary purpose of the chairs, but their secondary purpose. 

They brought he and his wife together each night, to reflect on their days, which turned into weeks, which turned into years, and their lifetime together. He said the chairs were where he became a grandpa, nestling a new grandchild. The chairs held precocious children (and numerous more grandchildren) with coloring books and crayons. The chairs held friends, tipsy from summer porch beers and eyes wet from laughter. Their primary purpose of course, sitting, but their secondary purpose was to gather and that they had served him well throughout his lifetime.

We talk a lot about the purpose of jobs and Starfire’s approach to helping people with developmental disabilities in becoming employed. The primary purpose of any job is to earn a paycheck and to fill up one’s time, to have something to do. But the primary purpose of employment isn’t why we’ve supported people with disabilities in finding a job and working to help them keep it. To fill one’s time is fine, necessary even, but not if that time is filled with meaningless, disrespectful, devalued tasks. 

Sure, a chair is a place to sit. But the farmer’s story tells us that its secondary, and perhaps true purpose, is providing a space for human connection.

Sure, a job is a place to earn money. But perhaps its secondary- and true purpose in relation to our work of community building is providing a space for connection as well.