I was thinking about dancing for the man and the alternatives to dancing for the man. I think alot of people have this thought process after college and then decide to...work at a coffee shop with a degree in astrophysics from Harvard like a guy I played cards with last week. Once people get out on their own they think that they are just dancing for the man, just mindlessly following dollars and going after whatever they think their parents want to do. Since they are out on their own they use that freedom to entertain ideas of being a bum, coffee worker, etc., or they just keep dancing for the man, keep doing it with the idea that one day they will be able to really be themselves.
I was afraid that I might be falling into the latter category and I wanted to do something about it. Then I thought about the comic character The Punisher, who, after a criminal kills his wife and kids, dedicates himself to erradicating the criminal and other criminals too. This guy, the Punisher, just had a movie out and was on an arcade game that kicked ass. Maybe something crazy is going to happen to me, and from that point on I will dedicate my self to...creating an oil tanker bladder system to prevent spills for example. Or maybe something crazy has happened, and could even still be happening, and I have just not been paying attention and I should have been doing that. Or maybe I'm wrong, something is not going to happen and hasn't happened so I should kind of choose one or two things I can be pretty dedicated to and pursue those things.
Then, when debating between mechanically choosing a cause based on the pro's and con's versus having a spiritual and emotional connection to a cause, my brain stopped working and my eyes got all crosseyed. Can you, the reader, help me with some thoughts?
5 comments:
Yeah. I've got some thoughts on this, as I've had friends with the same dilemma.
My primary point here is this: you can either dance for a little while, or dance all your life. Meaning: if you work hard for 20-30 years, there's a decent chance you won't have to work as hard for the rest of your life, and can enjoy what your life might bring you: kids, for one, and peace, time and the freedom to pursue your interests later, when your brain has more experience accumulated. Travel more. Invest your hard-earned dollars in the pursuit of the fountain of youth... have yourself cryogenically frozen so that you can be reanimated in a new body, when they figure that out, and they will. (Of course that depends largely on your view of the 'afterlife' - mine, as you might surmise, is skeptical.
The other big question underlying the assumptions in 'dancing for the man' - is who, exactly, is the man? Without being overly dismissive of political positions advocating dissent and protest, the man is NOT GWB, John F'in Kerry, Hillary Clinton, or whoever is coming down the pipeline (Jeb Bush).
The man is, in short, all of us. In striving, reaching for a lofty goal, filling a role, forcing yourself to persevere, you're contributing to the whole of human history - and, more importantly, it's future. These are not contributions to be taken lightly. You, my good man, profess to be a teacher. Let me put this to you: if, by filling a role as teacher you could stimulate just one mind that would grow up to staff a cancer-research library, thereby freeing up that position for someone who has bigger thoughts, that can put effort into cure-research, would that not be worth it? Or what if your student fills a role that would have otherwise been filled by an over-qualified scientist that could be developing methods of expanding humanity's dominion beyond Earth...
I think it's a mistake to view our lives as encapsulated, singular temporal events that exist in a vacuum untouched by everyone else. Our life is the mitochondria of humanity's, a cell in a vast whole. (Sometimes we develop cancer, and we have to have our antibodies go kill the malignancy before it festers further and spreads into truly important organs: See: Islamofascism).
In short, taking a BS job and believing you're giving 'the man' the finger is a cop-out, plain and simple. It's fear of challenge, fear of your potential, fear, fear, fear. Because really, you're not sticking it to one man, capitalism, anything like that. You're sticking it to future generations. You're giving up on yourself, and your dreams.
You're stopping to smell the roses - and they won't smell quite so good when you're still smelling them at 75, without Social Security, without anything to leave upon the world, nothing to leave your mark. You're forgotten, you've been given up on by the world - fitting, for you've given up on yourself and it, long ago.
**All these 'you' are rhetorical and in no way meant to refer to the author of this blog, who is by my and all other accounts a faithful believer in the human spirit**
I think for most people and myself included, the man is the collection of norms, rules, and traditions that make up society. Like the idea that you are: your job, your salary, your possesions, your friggin' khakis. Rebeling against the man for me, and my career, would be choosing not to pursue the course with the greatest material gain, but the one with the greatest intrinsic value. This is why I chose teaching versus, finance, economic research or a professional sports career (one bounce).
In regards to teaching, I think alot of what you're saying explains why I want to teach. I just got done teaching a girl from Brazil who is going to go into the Navy, and then train to be a Dentist and who knows how cool that is for her and her family as well as all the people she will help. I wonder if I should just teach or go to university in hopes of making a difference...and if I do was I being disengenuous during my teaching years, only to cop out and take a easier job at a university
hey, sorry I didn't get to say hi to you today...I wanted to drop you a note and say I liked your new hairy face! ;o)
I am also a fan of hairy faces.
O, you must read this.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10677436%5E7583,00.html
RobD
Characterizing all the world's Nazis as Christian isn't the point. I'd argue as well that Christianity is in many respects just as worthless as Islam, but that's not specifically on point, either.
What's really necessary is a worldwide wake-up call, and a media not reliant on minutia. Do we truly understand how absurd it is that we focused so much scrutiny on Abu Ghraib, or even on Iraq - we need big picture people here, and the media is full of details and arrogant gliberals who cannot fathom the concept of a real threat to America -- where is our anger? Our wrath? Our collectivity?
As an aside, John Kerry has ADMITTED TO WAR CRIMES. And this guy's a potential President-elect? By his logic, since he's been in Vietnam, he'd treat the war issues more sensitively. Is that really what we want pitted against an enemy willing to slaughter children and behead innocent truck drivers of all nationalities and persuasions? I don't think anyone that's ever spent any time in combat and then lamented it should be President. Seriously. Sure, it goes against human historical custom.
This is why any McCain for President movement is DOA. He's too unstable.
In order to prosecute a war, a leader has to be cold. Because the world. is. cold.
I'm not willing even to give the little Arab gals on the Bloomington buses - the ones with the burqas (hoods) on a pass anymore. That's active subjugation of women, and it's sickening.
Islam needs its moderative movement, as Bernard Lewis argued so convincingly in "Crisis of Islam." But it won't come from within, because the powers that be in the Islamic world have all they need to repress the nascent liberty of their people.
If you'll recall our discussion as per last summer, you'll remember I vented about Iran as the primary target in this whole geopolitical conflict. Look, now, at Iran's recent activities and behavior. "No," they say, "We will not stop building our nuclear reactor. There is nothing to worry about."
Are these guys FUCKING KIDDING? Some Mullah heads need to roll. We've basically cut out protection of Saudi Arabia after they exported their problems to us. We'll do the same with Iran - or else the Israelis will just go ahead and handle that nuclear problem the same way they did Iraq's. A tactical bombing raid, and damn the choral comedy of 'international outcry.'
This IS World War IV. We can only pray it takes less bloodshed to resolve it.
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