One of Kentucky’s finest, Wendell Berry, wrote this in his poem “The Real Work”: “It may be that when we no longer know what to do / we have come to our real work.” Indeed, a smooth life is often a boring life. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Wendell Berry’s “The Real Work””
Lately, I’ve been reading the work of the great Kentucky writer Wendell Berry, and I wanted to share one of his poems with you.
It’s called The Real Work, and it’s a poem of, I think, encouragement.
The real work.
It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go, we’ve come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
Oh, that’s wonderful.
The impeded stream.
Yeah, yeah.
Whenever I’m having a rough day, I think of that poem.
I love it because it’s true.
A smooth life is a boring life.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I don’t want a flat roller coaster.
I want both hills and valleys.
A flat roller coaster.
I like that.
