Working for the Weekend

It’s Monday and I’m sleepy.  I didn’t even stay up late last night.  I think it’s become a Pavlovian-type response to beginning a new work week.

Thankfully, I don’t have a job that I abhor but there are many times I’d rather be doing something else.  I often wonder why we set things up this way.

We used to be told that being a hunter/gatherer was a much harder life but more evidence is coming to light to disprove that notion.  They worked fewer hours to get the nutrition they required and it was more varied.  But then they didn’t have all of our modern conveniences.

What price convenience though?  I feel like a slave to a system that I neither created nor can escape from.  I do see the pros and cons of it, but it is restrictive in many ways.

The first way is that all things are dependent upon money: the accumulating and spending of it in order to have the things one needs.  Even if I wished to return to a simpler, barter-like system, I don’t know if I could find enough others to engage with me.

Secondly, if the film “Into the Wild” taught me anything, it’s this: Living off the land is a noble idea but not really that good in practice.  Ingest one wrong plant and it’s game over.

Nom nom nom

Lastly, humans are not solitary creatures.  We evolved in groups and are designed to function best in that arrangement.  Some animals spend most of their lives alone, only to come together when it’s time to mate and then off again.  Humans, on the other hand, can go a little nutty if left alone for too long.

None of this is to decry what life is currently like, just to ponder what other ways life could be like.  As the world advanced, many people thought our work hours would shrink as more and more jobs were automated.  That hasn’t quite happened yet.  But the question has always been, if people don’t have to do those jobs anymore, what do they do with their time now?

I find nothing wrong with being idle but it is thoroughly looked down upon by most people.  People say things like “Idle hands make the devil’s work” and “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”  I just don’t feel the need or desire to be all that driven anymore.  I don’t see what’s in it for me.  If I feel like I have what I need, what exactly am I working for?

I used to be very attached to ambition, drive and all that jazz.  Now I just listen to people describe all of the things they are “up to” and I get a little tired from imagining myself doing it.  Sometimes I check out completely because it has all stopped making any bit of sense to me whatsoever.

I also find nothing wrong with wanting to be busy.  We actually need all kinds of people to make this thing we call civilization run.  My curiosity just can’t help but wonder, where exactly are we going?  And what happens when we get there?

Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?