Yacob's emphasis on reason reveals that accepting inherently irrational work—for survival—extracts costs beyond wages: erosion of dignity, reason, and self-knowledge.
Modern economics typically counts only visible costs: wages, hours, benefits. Zera Yacob's philosophy demands accounting for hidden costs invisible in paychecks. If your work requires you to ignore reason—to follow absurd orders, perpetuate injustice, or suppress your own judgment—you pay a price in self-respect and moral clarity. If the work is repetitive and deadening, you pay in the atrophy of your reasoning faculties. If the pace is unsustainable, you pay in health and relationships. These costs accumulate, often invisibly, until you realize you have exchanged not just time but your capacity for meaning-making. Yacob would insist on calculating the true cost of a job: the money received minus the dignity, reason, and potential surrendered. Sometimes survival requires accepting this price, but it should never be celebrated as acceptable. Economic justice means creating conditions where survival and flourishing are not in conflict.
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