So I had an interview at Whitespot today for a dishwashing position that I'll probably get. I like how he made it sound like such a vital job. Buddy, it's bottom of the barrel, entry-level, and minimum wage, you're not fooling me. He wants me to commit to a minimum amount of months there, I told him I'm not a slave. I'll offer him 4 months, but we'll see what happens. Got me thinking a lot though. Totally re-evaluating my plans for this year, but more on that is it develops.
Free-loaders seem to be the scapegoats of society. Folks seem much more concerned about their tax dollars going to those on welfare, than they seem to care about their tax dollars subsidizing corporate conglomerates. I'm not sure if it's an underlying sense of jealousy or if it's just based the old-fashioned value of hard-work that makes everyone so resentful towards people that are unemployed. I hear friends telling me to get a job more often than I hear it from my parents. It's as if being thrifty is suddenly taboo. To sum up everyone's feelings, I don't like to work. Most people just suck it up and continue the 9-5, but it's just not that simple for me. I refuse to succomb to the miserable routine of 40 hour weeks, month after month, year after year. Scares the shit outta me, to be honest. I guess I'm fortunate that I haven't had to work, since I have a family to stay with and such, but then again, I do owe $13,000 in student loans, so it's not like I'm getting off scratch-free for my habits. How much of our lives do we work? Too fucking much I'll tell you that. And for what? Are we contributing to the greater good, are we learning anything that is of any value outside of our 8hr shifts? Work is mindless. Karl Marx made some very valuable observations when he noted that the Industrial Revolution alienated workers. No longer does someone start and end a project. Restaurants, grocery stores, mills, so many thigns are just assembly lines with a different background attached. We don't even know where these products come from or how they're made. We're expendable. The working class is a step above slavery. Meaningless and mindless are the key words here. If we have to work to survive, why can't we work on something that actually has some relevance to us. If we have to work 8 hours to put food on our plates and a roof over our heads, then I'd rather spend 4 hours in the garden and 4 hours building a hut to live in. Hands-on labor is supposed to be therapeutic, not numbing. Instead of working for ourselves, we've traded it all in for a complex system where everything is supposedly convenient. We shouldn't have to work 8 hours a day. How much freedom do we really have within the curent system? Yes, the illusion of choice. Coke or Pepsi, cigarettes or alcohol, paper or plastic, cash or debit, Ford of Chevy, radio or TV, the puppet on the left or the puppet on the right. We don't make choices, they're narrowed down, watered down, and laid out before us and we simply point our finger. We so rarely determine the course of our lives anymore, we simply choose from the scraps of what's offered to us. Well I won't stand for it. I don't want some fuckwad drone packaging my salad mix, i'll grow it myself. If I had the resources, which i will someday if I ever settle down somewhere, I intend to have a hydroponics veggie grow op, fresh organics all winter long. I wanna build my own house too, and not out of plastic, fuck that's so ugly. We work for money, and we use that money to buy stuff we need, so why don't we cut out the middle man and work for ourselves. I'm not against labor or work, I'm against alienating labor that I have no influence on. I want my voice to be heard. I want my possessions to reflect me. If I can't make it, I shouldn't own it. Of course, this is still mostly theory, but I'm working my way there. Aside from perceived health benefits, the reason I don't eat meat is because I could never kill and animal, so I don't think I've earned the right to eat them. Paying someone else to hide the darker side of being a carnivore is a horribly cowardly thing to do. I made my own salad dressing, hummus, nut butter, and granola this week. I refuse to be tied down. Paying bills each month keeps us in chains. We're not free to do as we please. I believe in simplicity. I believe in DIY. Do your own research, make your own food, build your own house. I wanna see the world, I want to expand my horizons, I want to live as fullly as possible. I'm not gonna wait till I'm retired, and I'm not gonna lie to myself and tell myself I'll do it in a few years. I want life NOW. It's always seemed absurd to me how people can use work as an excuse not to partake in some activity. I mean it makes sense, but look at the bigger picture here. We weren't born to work. We've been tricked. Now I'm as willing as the next person to get sweaty and lend a helping hand, but not day after day, week after week, for a measly paycheck. So I'm playing the game strategically. I don't have freiends here, so living with my parents isn't such a bad thing (well, most of the time). Now I am gonna have to submit and get a job, but if I haven't left the country by Hallowe'en, I consider myself to be an insult to my own potential. I'm going to travel and yes I'm going to work. But I think there's a lot more gained by teaching english to children, than pumping some gas for some honky in a business suit. In fact, I'm probably gonna volunteer teach in Bali, to start with. I think we all need to raise our standards for living life and lower our material dependance. The more you buy, the more you need to work. The longer you work, the harder it will ever be to quit. The system is devised to reel you in. Dishwasher to cook, cook to manager. It's tempting, but it so limiting. I don't wanna be promoted, I don't wanna make an extra $1.25.hr, I wanna get the fuck out of here. I don't want a place to call home, the Earth is my home and I intend to check out every floor and every room. Perhaps this is my most scattered and unfocused rant to date. It was an intimidating topic and I hope I haven't stirred to much rage to be directed at me. Or maybe that's exactly what I want. We need to wake up and realise that the odds of us existing in this universe are so unbeliveably insignifacntly tiny, that it's nothing short of a miracle that you are breathing this very instant. I think we owe it to ourselves and existence itself to make things a little more interesting. We need to disassemble our routine, barter off the pieces, and start investing in living in the now instead of the past and the future. Life has been patiently waiting for us to grab it and passionately kiss it, but it won't be waiting forever. Act now, the clock is ticking.....
7 comments:
Oh you have induced some rage, alright. But I will try and remain calm.
I'm stoked that you can sit on your ass all day and come up with interesting theories about how important it is to stick to your moral high ground, when your logic is full of holes. I mean, really, if you are so against cars because of the principal of what they do to the environment, you wouldn't drive them. But you do. You don’t have one in your name, but I've yet to talk to you in a day when you haven't drove your parents vehicle. So thats a pretty big contradiction, all in itself, is it not? But it continues to get worse.
I'm pretty appauled that you have the nerve to call out people for working for a living, while you sit at home under a sheltered roof, spending how many hours a day in front of a computer, eating your parents food, spending their money on long distance calls, preaching to people about how important it is to live the kind of life you do. I think it’s highly ironic that you can mention in one post how important it is to eat well, and how it costs more, yet you don’t pay a single cent for it yourself. Good one. Maybe had you actually done some of the things you preach about so often, one might be able to take it seriously? And I apologize that you find the word “hypocrite” offensive, but it’s the best word for the way I feel when I read this kind of bullshit.
“We so rarely determine the course of our lives anymore, we simply choose from the scraps of what's offered to us.”
It’s such a shame that you honestly believe that you can not have a fulfilling life because you have to work. That’s such total, complete crapshoot, it makes me want to wretch. Have you ever considered how much more effective protests would be if they were done by people who actually had grounded roots in society? I know this statement is going to totally upset you, but it’s so true. Your mindset that you will not be able to find a job that is morally ethical, is bullshit. Try harder. Make your own business. Go pull weeds out of peoples gutters, if you have to, but really your whole “dream” of needing to make $1000 to go to Cambodia could be taken care of within 2 months MAX had you actually put your mind to it. I could point out specific things here but Im going to try and refrain to that. When you are defending your beliefs and resort to the “I grew up in a small town and am naïve” line, though, things aren’t kosher. People don’t get more naïve than I was when I moved to the city, so for you to use that line to me is beyond unacceptable. I applaud and respect your strong beliefs, but you cannot be hypocritical ( sorry, it’s the best word to use ) in any sense when you are going to preach this kind of shit to other people, unless you adhere to it 100% of the time as well.
And I hate to break it to you, but saying you are 13K in debt doesn’t mean shit to me. Especially when considering your work ethic you have no intention to pay it back. Good on ya, you’re just as bad as the people you rant so freely about, except they actually PLAN on taking a job they might hate because they recognize the need to pay back what they have borrowed. I don’t care about how many ways you can curse the government and tell me about how your anarchistic ways are the way that things should be, that same government is paying for things for you when you need them. Ever been in a hospital? Ever been to the dentist? Go to school? You can rant about things until your face turns blue when it comes to the government, hell I can too, but don’t you dare turn around and tell me you’re 13K in debt so that makes it okay.
I don’t need to keep on giving examples here about how upset this shit makes me, but how dare you rant about people being “chained down” because they are working, when you live off of other peoples money and other peoples work.
Well I don't want to turn this into some sort of personal war, but I figured I'd reply on here, instead of on msn, to spare you the stress while you're at work. I find you're being very subjective about this whole thing, as if your name actually appeared somewhere in this post. That was me ranting, not coming to your house and preaching. This is a voluntary site, there's no reason to get so offended, especially when we've spoken so much about respect for others beliefs. Prefacing a comment with "I'm stoked that...." or "I applaud and respect your strong beliefs...." is so obviously superficial and insincere, that it baffles me. I mean, if you like contradictions. But I'm gonna stop there with the personal stuff and simply deal with the points you raised.
I don't sit on my ass all day anymore than you do. You do it for 8 hours straight and call it work, I do it for 4 hours straight and call it communicating with you the only way I can. If you don't appreciate the effort I make, then I'll just wait till you get the internet hooked up again at home. I get exercise everyday, more than most people. My time spent outdoors has been steadily increasing. When I'm indoors, my time on the computer is spent listening to music, a passion with both share, or talking to friends that I wouldn't be talking to otherwise. Or doing research for my trip, research for my ideas, etc.
Moral high ground? Is that kind've like that imaginary high horse I sit on when I'm asking you not to call me names?
Actually I think uninsuring my car was a step in the right direction. 90% of the driving I do is for my parents. It's part of the agreement of staying here. I taxi my sister to and from school, I do the shopping, etc. The remaining 10% is only if something is too far to bike to. Plus, it's a Honda Civic, it's got relatively good mileage. If I do get this job, I'll be taking the bus just like you.
I don't preach anything, I try to inspire people to consider things differently. I never said anyone has to live like me, but what other examples am I to use? If I didn't talk about myself the question would be raised, "well what are you doing so differently?". I've been living here with my parents for less than 2 months. It's temporary. Just like me being unemployed. The day I get my first check, I will start paying for all of my expenses under the house. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to live off their parents, but I do, and I never intended to abuse it. I will probably give them my first check. I'm not living off of anyone else except them, so I don't understand this level of resentment. I never looked into welfare and I don't qualify for EI, so I lived cheaply for a while, big fucking deal. I spend my days doing whatever I please. I usually like talking to you as much as possible and this IS my computer and my stereo, but I also enjoy being outdoors and being as close to nature as possible. If I'm not on the computer, outdoors, or making food, I'm reading. As soon as I have the funds again, I'll probably start going to yoga and karate again.
When I lived on my own in Kamloops, I was buying even MORE expensive food than I expect my parents to buy. Sure, it was student loan money, but your assumption that I'm not gonna pay it back, is a little unfounded. I've already started paying it back, and once I get an income again, I'll continue paying it back. If the economy crashes and I decide to go live in the woods, well then yeah I'm probably gonna leave the debt unpaid, but it certainly isn't a strategy of mine to go to school for a year and not pay it back.
You do make a good point about protests being more effective when they're done by established people, I'll give you that one.
I never said that there aren't any ethical job, there's plenty out there. I have nothing against working in a book store, nursery, small cafe, non-porn video store, or in almost any trade. I'm not counting on working at one and if need be, I will work somewhere less respectable, but I certainly wouldn't stay there too long. Making my own business? I thought you respected my views. I don't DO capitalism. I don't want to make a profit off of other people and yes, I realize that extends to selling pot, but I don't think I'll be doing that again. If I had the resources, I would consider involving myself in some sort of business, but the main goal wouldn't be to make money, so I don't think it's likely to happen. I realize that I could've earned that $1000 in two months, but I woulda thought that blitzing the job market with 50 resumes was my best hope. Live and learn, I guess.
“We so rarely determine the course of our lives anymore, we simply choose from the scraps of what's offered to us.”
I wasn't 'defending' my beliefs with small town naiveté, I was simply trying to offer some insight, and if you still can't grasp the small town mindset, then that's your own ignorance, cuz I think there's lots of people here that can testify to how small towns warp perspectives. Of course, living anywhere, will change your perspective, like for example, living in a big city, but I woulda thought you'd recognize that.
I'm sorry if I don't adhere to my beliefs %100 yet, but life is a work in progress and I think I've made quite a bit of distance so far, considering I just turned 20. I'm straight-edge and I'm vegan now, and while neither of those may last, I thought I'd overcompensate in order to grasp the pro's of both sides. I am constantly working on my own evolution and every month, I have a better understanding of where I'd like to be headed. I try out my ideas on here, because in the words of a friend, "Writing in blogs allows your mind to fully comprehend and release information, in an atmosphere that you create and monitor." After typing up my ideas, I have a better sense of whether they stand up to criticism or whether I need to take a closer look at myself. Our talk about selling drugs made me re-evaluate my position, but so far, you've said nothing to make me reconsider my position on this topic.
You keep trying to inject your own subjective values here as if two people's values can simply be reconciled. Look, YOU are the one than thinks someone 'needs' to take a job they hate in order to pay back what they've borrowed, that's YOUR point-of-view, and while I don't necessarily disagree, I certainly don't think I should be judging myself based on your morals and ethics. I've never had outstanding debts with any of my friends, and I try not to live at others expense without giving back in the meantime. I think Mitch can back me on that one.
I don't recall me stating that my anarchist ways are the way things should be. Those are my opinions and it's what I'd like to see, but I don't claim myself to be more 'right' than anyone else. See, I recognize when ideas are opinions and theories, but I don't feel the need to add a disclaimer at the beginning of every post saying, "the opinions expressed in the following post by no means represent the voice of god or any other righteous being". These are my ideas. If people have no use for them at all, they won't come. They don't have to agree with them and I'm sure many people don't, and I encourage them to voice opposition, but not as subjectively as you have.
By asking me whether I've been to a hospital and so on, you're really just illustrating your own lack of knowledge about the style of anarchy I believe in. Do you really think that in my own utopia, people are left to heal broken bones themselves? Do I curse education? I don't claim that absolutely everything put in place by a government is automatically foul. But as far as dentistry go, I think we know my views on that. Besides, I don't think I used my debt to justify my ranting, even I recognize the absurdity of that.
I don't think people being chained down has anything to do with the way I'm living now. I'm NOT chained down right now, so I don't see the comparison. You're very right in that I'm living off other people's money, but you could at least recognize that it's my family's money, nobody else's and we're fully capable of working out the details. I do my part for now and like I said, my current living situation is temporary.
mporary.
- it's not a personal war whatsoever, but a continuation of the chat we had recently, and picks up from there
- the high horse comment was made in direct reference to your sentance telling me how you feel I should have dealt with my apology to you, in which you did not acknowledge until I mentioned it. Speaking to somebody in a way of telling them how to structure an apology such as: "I am sorry because ______, " is something that I found offensive.
- Being somebody who is an employed individual, yes I did take that post personally. You seem to feel that those who are working for "the man" are going to lead some sort of lesser life
- Justify your driving however you wish to yourself, but giving mumbo jumbo about fuel efficiency is also pretty ridiculous., and just you being on the fence again. I'm pretty sure that your trips touring around aren't "part of your agreement" staying there, so please dont try and tell me that you only use the car when you are "forced" to. I could honestly care less if you drive or not, but thought it was a worthy example.
- for the record you took the opportunity to make several insulting jabs at me in your reply, which is fine, but note that you do it as well, and i apologized for my actions
- my comment about your student loan was based directly on your own comment about only wanting to work part time. When you do start paying your way I fail to see how a part time wage will help you survive, and re-pay your debt. Not to mention your intentions to get back into yoga and karate, your travelling, etc etc
- and the protesting point was actually Alans thought
- I fail to see how you would find making your own "business" cleaning people's yards, etc is "making a profit off other people" in any different way than any job you choose to take would be. If you are a dishwasher, you're making a wage off people dining there, so that logic is...?
- my reference to your small town comment was from our conversation we had, and I will mention again that I lived a much more secluded life than you would have in your "small town". I still feel that your turning to this is just another form of a cop-out
- I do respect your views, and it's interesting reading them on your journal, but I am entitled to disagree and call attention to things I disagree with. My comments about respecting your beliefs were neither superficial, or insincere, and it's a shame that you feel that I would waste time with either.
- "YOU are the one that thinks someone "needs" to take a job they hate in order to pay back what they've borrowed": I never said you need to take a job that you hate, just a job in general, and maybe you could clarify to me how you would pay back a $13,000 debt without taking a job - ??
- by the way, your concept of not seeing anything wrong with selling drugs and not wanting to make a profit off of other people... they dont fit together well
- I never once expected you to judge yourself on my morals or ethics, I wouldn't expect anybody to
- my "illustrating my lack of knowledge on anarchy" - I never once said I DID know anything about any form of anarchy, and thats no secret
- what does it matter who's money you are living off of when you are a twenty year old human being who is fully capable of supporting themselves?
and subject dropped :)
This is becoming far too personal and things of this nature really don't belong in the public sphere. I'm gonna attempt to put a foreseeable end to this nasty little run by only replying to the things that are relevant and that I won't simply be repeating myself, plus I'm not gonna reply to things that you claim I said which I didn't, read it twice next time. I posted my ideas targetting a way of life, that the readers may or may not be involved in. You took it personally and decided to target me specifically for the way I've been living for the last 6 weeks (temporary as it may be, which you seem to refuse to accept). Big difference between my approach and yours. I hope you understand that I was not in any way retaliating to a conversation we had, these are not new ideas of mine, I just thought they were relevant to the fact that I might be getting a job soon. I have no interest whatsoever in bickering about specific shit that should've have been left in that conversation. I told you I was going to rethink my position on what I'd said about selling drugs and I have. That conversation is over. Actually the only thing I have to say is that I thought it was obvious is that by 'business', I mean an actual business. Going door to door asking people to pay you to do yard work is hardly a business, it's a way to make cash on the side. Unless of course, you buy equipment, a company van, and do it for a living, charging rates and such. And yes, there's a huge difference between owning a business and working for one and I'm pretty sure I'd be paid an hourly wage at Whitespot, not commission. I don't like the idea of being profit-driven. Oh and who says there's a limit on how long I take to pay back a student loan? The whole idea of teaching overseas was to gradually pay it back, and travel too, without going into further debt.
What happened to the peace, love and happiness. We're all hypocrites, so juat deal with it. Money=Freedom the more money we have the more we can travel, eat and have a goodtime. Yeah it sad but that how it is. Why can't u grow ur veggies and stuff at ur parents. I definetely hate working and have been at jobs i hate but it's money so i stay but most the time I love what i do. ANd it allows me to do want I want. Where's the ACTION at? Now i'm just another fucking hypocrite, so whatever.
thats a really interesting point, Ocean. Somebody who I know who isn't involved in this banter whatsoever said to me yesterday: "we're all hypocrites, some just don't know it yet"
I thought that was well said.
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