"Give Him Something To Do"

A saw a movie some years ago called "The Flight of the Phoenix."  The remake, not the original.  The basic point of this movie is that a plane went down in the Gobi desert and the survivors of the crash had to try and rebuild the plane before they were attacked.  It had Dennis Quaid and Hugh Laurie before he was American.  There was a point in the movie before they decided to rebuild the plane that one of the characters was trying to argue for giving it a shot.  He wants to build the plane in order to give them hope, and he says, "If you can't give a man hope, give him something to do." 
I want you to think about this.  You've been at your place of business for about 17 years or so, and you've done a great job.  You start thinking about retiring one day down the road, but you're not ready and won't be for some time.  Well this new guy comes on and you're responsible for training him.  You spend a few years working with him in a supervisory position.  He does okay, but is still far less qualified than you. 
Now let's move this hypothetical down the line a little bit.  One day, your boss comes to you and says that you're going to have to give your job up to this other guy.  Now this would probably tick you off.  I know it would me.  They've already decided.  You're gonna be replaced, and there's nothing you can do about it.  In all of your attempts, they finally decide that they can afford to keep you at the company in a lesser position.  So you've still got a job, but it's not the one you had nor the one you believe yourself to be qualified for. 
Now imagine that your job is in the public arena and millions of people decide to pass judgement on your career decisions. 
By now, you've probably figured out what I'm talking about. 
The first thing you're probably asking yourself is, "What is he doing?  Adam never goes into debate on the lives and decisions of the celebrity few."  True.  I don't.  I personally hate the obsession with celebrities (unless their names are Christina Ricci or Jessica Alba).  The reason I even go into this issue at all is because I, as always, have a grander point to make.
We look back at the scenario I detailed a minute ago.  I understand that Jay Leno has made millions of dollars in his life, as has Conan.  This doesn't mean that he really wants to do nothing with his time.  I earnestly believe that mankind has an innate sense of productivity.  Look at the world we built.  There are great cities, monuments, art which exists for no other purpose than the artist to say, "Yep.  That's how I spent my summer break."  If a man has nothing else, give him something to do. 
This is true for any man of any income tax bracket.  Leno has a job that he loves, and he's been forced out of it.  Now, he's being forced out of a crappier job that he only kind of wanted, but he has the opportunity to get his old job back.  On the other hand, you've got a man who probaly wasn't ready for the job he was given with a choice to take his old job, go somewhere else, or do nothing for four years and receive an $80 million check. 
I won't pretend to know what these men should do, what they will do, or who's right to accept what positions.  I will, however, say that men are built with (mankind...I'm no sexist) this innate desire to create and to build and to work.  The problem with laziness is not often that people don't want to do anything, they just don't want to do what they have to do.
As far fetched as this sounds, let me offer you a more personal example.  From December 8th to about January 4th, I didn't have to do a darn thing.  There were times when I woke up really late into the day and would just stay up late at night playing games or doing whatever.  Now I may have enjoyed myself, but it didn't feel right.  The best I felt in that time was when I would sit down and write.  I knew that I was accomplishing something, and it was something I wanted to do. 
At the same time, I have been student teaching for the last two weeks now, and it's tough.  I have to get up at 5:30am (and I assure you, I've seen 5:30am from the other side more often than not) and go into a school where I spend my days in the same room for upwards of six hours, small recesses aside.  I can't even leave for lunch.  If you've worked with me before, you know how much I cherish the ability to move around and leave for lunch.  It's a hard environment for me to work in.  But even with this unfavorable environment, I have felt more able and more confident.  My life seems more organized and more favorable.  It helps that I have something to do.  It helps that I have an environment forcing me into productive habits.  True, the schedule has prevented me from writing as often as I would like, but I believe that the return to normal  working habits will prove fortunate when I do have more time to write.  I will actually work on it. 
I have something to do now, and that has forced my idle hands to get in motion.  I have an opportunity to do what I love, writing, and I have an opportunity to do it well.  Why would I let my lazy self ruin that?