The Hamster Wheel

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to a job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it. – Ellen Goodman

When did this become the American dream? I want to break free from this vicious cycle.

I was talking to a gentleman whom I respect and admire recently and got to talking about my dreams and also the dreams of certain others. My dreams don't really have anything to do with making any money - in fact, I probably dream more of needing less money than I do of actually making more of it. He reminded me that we all have to consider our retirement, and need to make more than a measly paycheck that will barely pay the bills from week to week. That's certainly true. I thought about it for a couple of days, then came back to him and said, "You know, I thought about what you said. But to retire, you don't have to make a lot. You just have to save a lot."


Anyone who knows me knows I'm far from a true "free spirit". I've had steady source of income since I was about 11, and since I was seventeen, I have never simultaneously lived with my parents and failed to pay my share of the bills. I've worked full-time since that age, with barely a break. That's almost ten years. I don't have any illusions of being a wizened old woman on the verge of retirement, but that doesn't mean I'm not over it.

I have way too much creativity in my bones and ideas in my head to let it go to waste on a desk job for the rest of my life. But the thing is, I think we all do. Maybe I'm too young and naive and haven't been hit on the head hard enough with reality yet, but I have to admit that every time I see a poor soul struggling to make a living at the evil soulless devil of an employer Wal-Mart, going on the news or a documentary talking about how genuinely hard their life is, I can't help but wonder - Isn't there anything you ever wanted to do? I'm not meaning to hate on Wal-Mart - I'm just going off of what I've seen their employees say. That they can't make a good living, they'll barely pay them over minimum wage, the health insurance sucks, they can't get their kids necessary medications or food much less do anything fun with them and on and on.

I think everyone has talents and abilities - everyone. I am not good at certain things that others are good at, and I think that I am a little above average in certain other areas. Obviously not punctuality or time management. I can't help but think, though - did you ever want to coach? Or teach? Or paint? Or craft? Or cook? My goodness, am I really so naive to think that there aren't many people out there whose only God-given talent is punching a cash register and showing up ontime? I'm not hating on people, I swear. I've always said that I would marry a janitor if he truly loved his work. And was interesting and funny and sarcastic and philosophical and handsome, of course. My point is I believe people are capable of so much more.

Don't tell me that the lady on TV talking about her crappy job doesn't have more creativity and smarts in her pinky finger than does some ridiculous success like Paris Hilton. Hell, she's "good" at everything! (Writing books, making up new sayings, acting, singing, etc. etc. etc.)

What if more of us were interested in what the people around us had to say and less interested in the latest celebrity gossip? What if we spent more of our money on handmade goods made by our friends and neighbors and less on junk food? What if we spent more time working on being the best people we can be and less time watching reality TV? What if we spent more time on community projects and less time gossiping about one another? Where could we all be?

Yeah, I know, I'm crazy.

It's a fact that great ideas are born out of hard times. Give people a shove to the ground, and see what they come up with. They'll get creative. Intellectual property is the wave of the future. Scratch that. Intellectual property is the wave of now. U.S.intellectual property value is in the trillions. It's not what you do every day for eight hours, it's what you could dream up given the opportunity.

It would be amazing to help people harness their creativity, get healthy and have a better life. Right now I'll settle for this blog, and working on my education. But that doesn't mean I'm not dreaming!


Sources:
http://www.businessihub.com/recession-the-best-time-to-innovate/
http://www.sonecon.com/docs/studies/IntellectualPropertyReport-October2005.pdf