Vocations

One ten. I commented on a blogger’s post a bit about industrialism gone wrong. Dr T— and my sister shared the view that everyone must work at jobs we hate in order to be worthy people. His work ethic was best expressed in Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Supposedly, it doesn’t matter what job you do as long as you do it with quality. I couldn’t disagree more. Of course it matters what you do for a career! Every human being is born to be something. It’s just that in a capitalist system, people are pressured to give up their natural vocation for the sake of making money. I loathe Robert Pirsig’s book. Instead, take a look at Ayn Rand’s Anthem, where the nameless but numbered protagonist is elected to be the city street sweeper. Eventually by thinking outside of the box he revives the wisdom of antiquity and names himself Prometheus… There has been method in my madness from around the time I read The Fountainhead thirty three years ago. By an extended effort of sheer will, Howard Roark pushes through his dream of being an architect, and does it all his own way. So I still believe in big dreams, and I believe that where there’s a will there’s a way, because nature has a purpose for every one of us. The key to success is persistence. Never give up. The way nature works, every sentient being is born with a dream, however our capitalist society may try to crush it. Or maybe the problem is not the system of government, but the way people perceive it as inevitable…

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