Reader question:

Please explain “a means to an end”, as in, “work is just a means to an end”.

My comments:

Work is a means, a method by which you accomplish something. What’s implied here is that you work to make some money in order to earn a good living. A good living is the “end” – your real aim or eventual goal.

What’s also implied here, by the way, is those for whom “work is just a means to an end” don’t like their work very much. In other words, they don’t like to do it (but they want to have the money and so they have to put up with the work). We’ll talk about that later.

First, definitions again. Means, plural, is a method, system, object, anything you use as a way of achieving a result. If you do A to achieve B, A is the means, B the end. You go to Shanghai by means of the railway, for instance. The railway is the means, Shanghai the end.

Karl Marx talked about “means of production” referring to materials, tools and equipment that are used in the production of goods.

The Ways and Means Committee, on the other hand, refers to a group of representatives in the government of a US state or Congress whose job is to find the money (means) for the government to spend. Similarly, when your parents advise you: “Don’t spend beyond your means”, they’re warning you against spending more money than you make – lest you end up in debt.

In Wuthering Heights, “Fair means!” is what Cathy calls for, in order to prevent her husband, Edgar Linton, from summoning the servants in order to subdue Heathcliff. Fair means (measure), that is, not foul.

“Fair means!” she said, in answer to her husband’s look of angry surprise. “If you have not courage to attack him, make an apology, or allow yourself to be beaten. It will correct you of feigning more valour than you possess. No, I’ll swallow the key before you shall get it! I'm delightfully rewarded for my kindness to each! After constant indulgence of one’s weak nature, and the other’s bad one, I earn for thanks two samples of blind ingratitude, stupid to absurdity! Edgar, I was defending you and yours; and I wish Heathcliff may flog you sick, for daring to think an evil thought of me!’

Alright, by no means should you still fail to achieve a total grasp of the idea of “means” after these examples. So now, let’s move on to “a means to an end” (something that you do only to achieve a certain result, not because you want to do it) and ponder the question whether work is more important than merely a means to make some money.

Or whether is making money a mere means to an end also? Many people will say money is not what they want, but it’ll help them get happiness, which is the end of all ends, or the goal of all goals.

But can money get you happiness?

If that’s a tough question, let me ask you this: Do you live to eat or do you eat to live?

In other words, is eating a means to an end or is it an end in itself?

Well, if you’ve eaten as many meals as I have, you will probably be able to appreciate to some degree the food (along with the cookery) for its own sake. That is, you appreciate the food not because it helps you survive but because eating itself is a joyful thing to do.

Let’s face it. We spend a tremendous amount of time shopping for, cooking and eating food. That means we spend a tremendous amount of our life eating or preparing for it. If we never enjoy this but merely go through the motions gobbling up the food, we’re really wasting our lives.

Likewise, if work is merely a means to an end for you, well, perhaps you should find a new one.

Well, I guess you should at least keep eating your meals and learn to enjoy them.

Before it’s too late.

Along with all other things you do.

Because, together, they constitute life itself.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

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（作者张欣 中国日报网英语点津 编辑陈丹妮）