On the Work to Be Done

"On the Work to Be Done" is an article published in Rolling Stone on May 28, 1998 for its 30th anniversary edition.

Summary

Although jazz and Alcoholics Anonymous are the only "specifically American inventions that have made this a better world," jazz has no bad side effects. One of the central tenants of A.A., however—that recovering addicts "live one day at a time"—is the same idea that "infects the brains of those who are wrecking the planet." While people are concerned about the approaching year 2000, current information indicates that Jesus was born in 5 B.C., thus the year 2000 already happened and the apocalypse was the O.J. Simpson case.

Those graduating high school and college are not Generation X or Y, but as much Generation A as Adam and Eve. The Book of Genesis did not give that couple a whole planet, but a "manageable piece of property... say 200 acres." Vonnegut's advice to the young is to set a goal of putting a small part of the planet into order rather than the whole, which is still a lot of "spiritual and physical" work. While doing that, there will also be happiness that we should notice. Artists take this approach, saying they can't fix the whole planet, but can make a canvas, lump of clay, or sheet of paper exactly what it should be. Unless humanity becomes responsible, all the resources will be used up sooner than we think, leaving nothing to future generations. Perhaps humans would have been better off as sea lions, "provided, of course, that nobody else got to be a human being, or a great white shark, or a killer whale." Humanity needs to remember, as was once remarked about a certain pharmaceutical: "Death is not an acceptable side effect."