system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry." Does this viewpoint hold true today? Should people do exceptional work at menial jobs that offer little in wages or opportunity?
gpt
First, keep in mind that this is a MLK Jr quote, so it should be interpreted within a Christian worldview. Consider Colossians 3:17-24. It begins with:

> And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

It then continues to instruct everyone to a life of servitude and submission; wives submit to husbands, husbands serve wives, children obey parents, fathers encourage children.

Verses 22-24 then summarize with an even more astonishing command:

> Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only to please them while they are watching, but with sincerity of heart and fear of the Lord. **Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men**, because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

This command to work with all your effort as if doing work of a transcendent caliber is issued even to servants, who are presumably getting paid little to nothing. This jives with the rest of MLK's quote:

> ...Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well. '

Since all productive efforts on this view are done in honor of God, they should all be done soulfully. This teaching is present elsewhere in the New Testament (Ephesians 6:7) and also in the Jewish scriptures (Ecclesiastes 9:10), and the attitude it commends is to apply to everyone.

So, when you ask if this viewpoint still holds today, the answer is: unequivocally yes, so long as you are operating within a Christian worldview.

What if you are not a Christian? Arguably, a virtue ethicist could hold a similar view. If taking all productive efforts seriously produces in one the kind of character which is desirable/necessary/good/moral/whatever, then this is what one should do regardless of pay or opportunity or consequences or duties. In other words, taking such an attitude might make one a better person overall.