In this life, we are faced with have-tos and want-tos. Generally, the want-to list is long and somewhat under-attended. The have-to list, on the other hand, is unyielding and constant. Topping that list is daunting work. I still struggle with the idea that our value has to be quantified in our work. But that idea is drilled into us from a young age.
Think about it. At school, we were given perfect attendance awards to reward us for not taking time off. We are pushed to be a good cog. I know I have at times prided myself on how little time off I took from work. I remember taking solace knowing the boss saw me at work before him and at the end of the day he left before I did.
And what do I have to show for that? Not a damned thing. I haven’t been paid by the hour in a long time. To be honest, my current productivity is in many ways driven by my commitment to the industry I’m in. Even more so Im driven by competition with myself. There is no harsher critic of me than I am.
I recently enjoyed a brief run of not questioning the safety of my job status. To be honest, I feel wonks like are more likely to worry about it than feel secure in it these days. The industry (hell, most of them) is (are) constantly in crisis. It is so goddamned exhausting. I’m at that junction between paying off the pains of early career and really building a savings base. In other words, I’m not ravaged by debt, but I’m not holding onto an amazing parachute either. Sidenote: if you’re against student loan reform, kindly go fuck yourself.
We have reached an interesting tipping point in late-stage capitalism. When we were transitioning from an agrarian economy to an industrial, we could live with unsafe working conditions and pollution. When we asked for reasonable wages, we were told to go to school and get a professional executive job. Then, when enough started doing that , labor became too costly, and we started outsourcing the dirty stuff. Now we have to figure out; do we have a product?
Without a product, we don’t have business. If we don’t have business, we don’t have work. What do we do?
Well, we could make sure everyone in the country has a subsistence living. But we won’t do that because….socialism? We could subsidize industry to promote good jobs, but that pads pockets. We could keep doing what we are, which is building deck chairs for the Titanic, or if in the office, writing policies and procedures for building Titanic deck chairs.
Or we could at least consider the notion that we kinda fucked things up. We want to be the greatest generation, so we keep going to war. We want to believe everything is fine so we keep watching bullshit “jobs” reports. And we are all temporarily embarrassed millionaires simping for Elon Musks and pretending we can afford to own a home today.
I hate to say it, but a market readjustment may he the only way we actually get our shit together. As long as we keep voting in asshats who are determined to wreck the bus rather that work toward the common good we should expect more of the same.
I’ve been used a little bit of late. And I’m speaking about the professional world. It has me pissed off. It has me reexamine things in my life. I want to purge stuff. I want to lighten the boat so she turns more swiftly. I want to….I don’t know. I just know earlier today I was ready to start throwing away boxes without looking in them. To me, that’s jarring. Today I did herculean lifts at my job. I solved more than one brain should have to handle (when it’s my vintage brain anyway). And tonight I imagine my cortex a smoking ruin. Maybe some sleep will help.
Beta Testing Adulthood 