"My mind is the place where I make my plans
The world is the place where I take my stand
The beauty of life is mine today
They cannot take my mind away"
-- From the song Psychology by dead prez
Now as a human being, i'm being pulled apart by two forces. As an anarchist I want us to be free. Bring the trade market back, destroy the big wallmarts corporations. But as a husband and maybe soon to be father I have to provide. And right now, the artistic way doesn't seem to work. So I find myself thinking of taking the easy way out and working for the corporations that I hate so much. The problem is that the more I stay in that environment and the more I notice my mind "shutting off". It is like we are all turning into empty shells. Shadows of our former selves. Working all our lives, only living for short periods of time ( When we are on vacation or if we finally get stinkin' rich ). Some will say "that's just growing up". No it's not.
What is the last time you took some time to breath and really enjoy life ? What is the last time you laughed? Really laughed? From time to time I do have those wonderful moments when I say "Damn it's good to be alive". But in my opinion they are too rare. And some people don't have them at all. Suicide rates are going up more and more. Killing sprees. These are works of people with problems yes. But we never seem to stop and ask ourselves where Do these problems come from?
Is our brain our problem? I for myself have never seen any animal go on a killing spree, nor killed itself purposely. Except for humans.
Is it our brains? Or is it our subconsciouses ? In our hearts we know that we weren't made to live like this. But what can we do? Nobody will come to help when my family'll be hungry. Yet there seems to be enough money to go around since it's being thrown out the windows. I've seen good people work all their lives just to SURVIVE! And yet some empty headed barbie comes along, shakes some ass on screen and she is being paid millions PER movie. And most people condone it.
What does this have to do with subject at hand? Everything!
People are still dying of hunger in the world. It is not just a tv commercial for you to send money. It is real. But we don't care. As long as it isn't family or friends.
In our heads we live in a democratic society. We are killing our minds everyday, shutting up our cries for freedom , and walking around like zombies working all day long in order to get to the "american dream". Yet even when we do make lots of money. It is never enough.
Fiends for the dollar. Wishing to win the lottery so that we might finally live.
To finish, I will add this text I read back in school. Can't remember who wrote it tough.
" A fisherman is relaxing on the warm sand under a tree.
Comes along a rich business man.
-Hello, says the business man can I have a few minutes of your time?
-Sure, says the fisherman
-I can't help but notice that it is still early, yet you're relaxing?
-Yes I've already catch all the fish my family and I can eat for the day.
-If you went working anyways you would have twice that fish.
-And what would I do with those extra fish?
-You would sell them and earn extra money.
-And what would I do with that money?
-You could buy a second boat and employ some people and catch even more fish. The when you have enough money you could buy tens of boats and earn so much money that you wouldn't have to work no more.
-Oh and what would I do then?
-You could relax and enjoy life said the business man
-isn't that exactly what I am doing now? Asked the fisherman"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
This post really resonated with me. I just wrote a blog post titled "Work Sucks" after Googling "I hate work". It's not even the time or labor expended, it's the concept of work and the way it has taken shape in our society. Why do we work? For most, not to find purpose in life, but to give away their lives and to be used up. For what? Money. And what's money worth? If you were locked up in a cold room with nothing but money, you find out it's good for nothing. You can't eat it. It won't sustain you. And yet it has value because we've given it value, and now it rules over us.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet most people can't even justify the usefulness of what they do at work on a daily basis. Take this fisherman in the story, if you explained your job to him, could you convince him that your job is useful to him in some way?
It's too bad everybody seems to have bought into a system that uses them up. Look at the economy, at unemployed people looking for jobs they don't want, at employed people clinging to jobs they hate so they can subsidize lives made miserable by those jobs. Work itself is not the enemy. It's lack of thinking -- and action without thought -- that led us to this point.
The new train of thought these years seems to be "Im going to work my @$$ off while Im young, to get a healthy retirement and live well when Im 50. But what if you don't make it to 50 and die next year? You would have wasted those precious moments. Now Im not saying to go live on the streets and not work at all. But in my opinion there has to be a limit.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. It's not that people who recognize this system for what it is are lazy and don't want to do anything. It's that we know what it is, and we think it can be better.
ReplyDeleteI always think of those innocent people who died on 9/11. They were the good little workers who went in early. They were working hard to store up for the future, and were already looking forward to the weekend. They had no idea they were living their last day on this earth. Truth is, no one knows. Anyone can step off a curb and get hit by a car tomorrow.
There has to be balance. Look at all those hard workers who built up the economy only to crash it. As a society, we've been working towards imbalance, and now we're trying to "restore" the system to it's former glory? Give me a fucking break!
That text is just perfect. Sometimes we do get sucked in. Sometimes we have to, for just a little while. My husband and I go trough this. We have bills to pay, mouths to feed, and so he works a "normal" job. (Well,a s normal a job as he could get, anyway). Sometimes he slips back into "American Dream hegemony" mode, and I have to very gently punch him in the face for it.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I slip into it, and he yells at me. Sometimes we forget...but most days we have each other as reminders and support. Like recovering drug addicts - sometimes we crave what we once knew and had, that old familiar numbness that money and daily life brought. But, with the proper support, we're OK.
Go ahead and find you job - work for what you need to pay for, have your wife keep you grounded, have a child remind you about what it is you want to change for their future. Continue doing the best you can with what you've got.
<- terrific quote - the poor fishrman/the savvy-swindeler; nevertheless, 1-outta-1 bites-the-dust, dear. Nthn I can do bout that... and dat da fak, Jak.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I do:
trustNjesus, dear.
Meet me Upstairs.
Let's getta Big-Ol beer...
gotta lotta tok about.
<- terrific quote - the poor fishrman/the savvy-swindeler; nevertheless, 1-outta-1 bites-the-dust, dear. Nthn I can do bout that... and dat da fak, Jak.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I do:
trustNjesus, dear.
Meet me Upstairs.
Let's getta Big-Ol beer...
gotta lotta tok about.