Life in the cube

Why has our species triumphed over so many obstacles to reach the pinnacle of civilization, only to decide we should work all day? I mean, think about it. There must be someone in charge of this whole 'human' thing, who said, "Alright guys. We've outlasted the dinosaurs. Those ice ages are done with. We beat the black plague, managed to settle every piece of land on the planet. We took a car to the moon. We can float on water, fly in the air, drill holes into the ground. We've got pop tarts, we grow living animals for our own interest just so we can eat them. We're doing great. So, now that we have that established, let's go to work. Yes, that's right. As a species, we've got everything under control, but I am mandating that you go to work all day and waste it all away. Get in your car, and drive there. Make sure you kiss ass, dress right, pack a lunch, and don't be late, because you've got to have a job. You'll do this for 40 years."

Do you realize that people in this world are going to work all day, and not getting home till 6 p.m.?! Then they eat, decompress, and it's 8 p.m.?! And then there are four precious hours left until they must go to bed. Four hours a day. A precious nugget of four hours. Add in a kid and there goes a few nights thanks to the band concert or little league game. Add in something that makes you a reasonable person like a bowling league or volunteer work and there goes another night.

Then what about doing your bills and sending birthday cards and cleaning your room? And having sex? Doing laundry and dropping off shirts to be cleaned and buying stamps? Try to relax by having a few beers and watching the game and that just leaves you more deathly exhausted the next day. For more work.

So much work is just superstructure: the buildings, the suits, the cars, the elevators, the guy at the ground floor saying hello, the receptionist answering the phone. The businesses that only deliver food to people at work, the businesses that only supply work with paper to work on. The people that only make staples to staple the papers together that contain the work. The people that make the filing cabinets in which to put the stapled pieces of paper so that later, someone else at another work can call and ask for some proof of the work, and see it. People make those cabinets. People make and drive trucks to transport the cabinets and people pump the gas on the highway for those trucks. People make the uniforms for those gas men and people make the cardboard boxes to ship the uniforms in. So many people are doing so much work just so we can keep working. What are we working for? More work.

Do you realize that all we really need are food, water, shelter, and love? That's it. Everything else is contrived. Career satisfaction? That is made up. That is fiction. Here are some things that are reasonable jobs: food maker, water guy, shelter builder, medicine man. I propose we revert as soon as possible to those four jobs. Granted, we'll have to crap in the woods, but we'll deal.