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posted: *15 feb 2022*
I've realized that I can't really think of the concept of working a day job for
longer than a few minutes without starting to get really down, confused and
otherwise depressed at the reality of it all.
Now, granted, it goes without saying that the way we do things in most Western
countries, (especially the US, powered by a Puritanical work ethic that's so
outdated I fart dust thinking of it) is outmoded and built towards farmers and
secondary (perhaps maybe tertiary) economies. It makes plenty of sense to work
multiple days a week, throughout the whole day, if you're a farmer who has to
respect the life cycles of his work animals, and doesn't have giant spotlights
with which to light up his whole field as he tills. It means he has to get up
early, work hard, and then do it all over again with decidedly inefficient
tools.
That was centuries ago. We've been past the post on the Industrial Revolution
for almost 200 years. We can count on one hand in the US the percentage of
people who participate in the farming industry, and yet they feed a much
larger proportion of the population due to advanced machinery and supply chain
methods.
(Nevermind that the supply chain is basically a dumpster fire now; separate
issue ;D)
I'm faffing about talking about farmers and Puritans as a probably less-than-
efficient way of saying that reality as I know it, as a random plebian in the
third most populous country on the planet, is -nothing- like the lifestyle of
most people for whom that kind of work ethic was contrived by the church and
then exacerbated by corporations who saw a cultural alignment with their
plans for profit.
It means thinking about how we probably could be doing this whole thing in a
different way - this whole economy and everyone in it - gets kind of irksome.
Don't get me wrong. You'd damn well better work and earn your worth. There's
no virtue in being a potato. I have found that having something meaningful
and relevant to do, that produces something I can actually appreciate, have
been the origins of some of my best days.
But there's no sense in being an overworked potato in a bullshit job either.
There has to be balance.
Work on something that fills your soul.
Do something that helps the world keep rolling forward in a healthy,
meaningful way. There's plenty of work to be done. I'm not against the idea of
-working-. I just wish there was more of a respect given to earning one's bread
doing something that isn't sitting at a desk, watching the number of imaginary
dollars in my account go up (that are tied to no real standard or physical
holding) and yet still have to toil a lifetime in order to enjoy a few short
years as a likely somewhat decrepit old human, doing what certain folk among us
get to do for the majority of their lives, while contributing nothing.
I'm curious to see what the next few years bring. We're having enough issues
as a country, nation and culture here stateside that I'm expecting some big
goings-on to start rolling. Especially by 2024. I think that will be a major
turning point for what happens in this country for the next few years or even
decades. It will have rippling effects long after.
All of this to say, I hope whatever happens it means we can enjoy life more and
grind our noses a little less.
Comments? Questions? They go here.
wholesomedonut at tuta dot io