Just Folks

The Job

          The job will not make you, my boy;
            The job will not bring you to fame
          Or riches or honor or joy
            Or add any weight to your name.
          You may fail or succeed where you are,
            May honestly serve or may rob;
              From the start to the end
              Your success will depend
            On just what you make of your job.

          Don't look on the job as the thing
            That shall prove what you're able to do;
          The job does no more than to bring
            A chance for promotion to you.
          Men have shirked in high places and won
            Very justly the jeers of the mob;
              And you'll find it is true
              That it's all up to you
            To say what shall come from the job.

          The job is an incident small;
            The thing that's important is man.
          The job will not help you at all
            If you won't do the best that you can.
          It is you that determines your fate,
            You stand with your hand on the knob
              Of fame's doorway to-day,
              And life asks you to say
            Just what you will make of your job.