i got an interesting email from my dad today. it was an article from a corporate think tank about relating to young workers. apparently, young workers are turning down promotions at jobs due to things like stress or family time. i replied to my father with my thoughts on the article and i will summarize them here:

what's so awesome about work? when i see a guy driving down the street in a beautiful car i don't feel envy- i don't. i don't even feel jealousy or annoyance. you know what i feel? pity. that's right. pity. i think of how many hours they spent breaking their backs to get some polished hunk of metal and i feel pity. i think of all the people he had to manipulate to buy his ivory back scratchers. i think of all the workers making minimum wage, working part-time with no benefits, slinging low grade beef so he can pull up and order some fries. i wonder if he worries about his car at night. i wonder what he would be like if something happened to it. would he be distraught? upset? i mean, since everything material is temporary, isn't it pointless to become attached to merchandise? to crude matter?

so if this is true, which of course i think it is, why should i work myself to the bone just so i can buy some mass produced happy meal that is guaranteed to break? why would i make the accumulation of this stuff my purpose in life? i work to live, not live to work.

of course, there are exceptions: i don't always buy only what i need. i'm a consumer, sadly, and i am occasionally conned into buying the newest and coolest. i'm definitely not the ideal, but i don't have to be.

of course, i perhaps could be tempted to work all the time, but it sure wouldn't be for money. i suppose if i had a job i really believed in, if i had a job helping people or something, maybe then i wouldn't mind working. for anyone out there who knows of a job like that - i have a resume'. until then, it's only rock and roll for me.