The Load

I was originally going to open with the classic line, “There are two kinds of People;”

                This is obviously a flawed idea as there are, of course, somewhere in the neighborhood of seven billion kinds of people. In any case, it’s the second line that gets to the point. So, for the sake of brevity apparently, I’ve just added a paragraph.

                The second sentence then:

                “People who carry their own load and those who allow it to be carried for them.”

                That’s really what I want to talk about, roundabout way notwithstanding.

                I like to think of myself as belonging to the former group. As such, I have ended up seemingly surrounded by people who fall into the latter. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about my immediate family. My wife is firmly on this side, my Dad helps with the bills and does the dishes (he puts them away in strange places, so every time I cook it’s like an Easter egg hunt, but a great trade for not washing dishes), and the kids…well, they’re kids.

                I’ve had a few experiences recently with friends and extended family who seem content to be supported, to climb up on my wife’s and my backs and just ride there like a paid passenger.

                I’m a little tired of it. Unfortunately, the alternatives seem to be:

1.       Be a doormat (See what I did there?)

2.       Be a jerk and let someone else carry the load.

That’s an unfortunate truth to this kind of behavior. These other kind seem perfectly content to wait , so if I don’t help, I leave it for someone else.

I ruminate on the fact that for an extended period of time, when my kids were small, I lived on a diet of essentially hot dogs and apples. I walked or bicycled to work and back so my now ex-wife had the car available. As my wages got higher, my standard of living and diet approved, but I climbed every inch of that way.

I realize that I’m starting to sound like a FOX-News commentator and believe me; nothing could be farther from the truth. I spent a lot of time during that back and forth to work wondering what the hell it was all worth. Why was it important that I work that series of meaningless jobs? To take care of my family was an easy answer, but the world could easily get by without anyone doing many of the jobs I have had.

Money is at the root of this problem and I firmly believe that money is a training wheel that our developing species is at an age to outgrow.

I’m just spit-balling here, but if I had to guess, only about 10% of our population really needs to do anything to drive our global society forward. The remaining 90% could easily be fed, clothed and housed by that 10%. Probably half of the 90% might never be good for anything but taking up space. We deliberately do things inefficiently so as many people as possible can have a job.

Think about it. Most factory jobs can be done by machine and many of those never need done at all. Food production might possibly be a thorny issue, but there are those people out there who love that work.

That is the crux issue, I think. Would 10% of humanity be willing to work at necessary jobs to care for the 90%, allowing them a guiltless pursuit of happiness?

I think we might be surprised.

It would be interesting to see what would fill the power vacuum left by the absence of the wealthy. Would intellect become the new currency?

What would happen to the drug trade? Talk about a job that doesn’t need to be done.

“For the love of money is the root of all evil,” Timothy tells us and I think that is true. In the Christian-centered parts of the world, how else would you explain that the loaning of money at interest has gone from being a serious, if venal, sin to being culturally honored? They let bankers into churches now, for heaven’s sake.

But I’ve gone a little off topic, obviously.

If those people who belong to that non-contributory portion of the 90% were simply given what they needed, the rest of us could focus without their interference. We could be Farmers, Actors, Builders, Painters, Programmers, Teachers, Dancers, Fixers (This is my group. We know who we are.) and, at least in the short term, Administrators. Some would contribute the necessary skills and some would entertain those who do and the rest could watch Honey-Boo-Boo or something (although I think reality TV would die a quick death in my Brave, New World).

I know this sounds like communism, but there is something very philosophically attractive about eliminating both the haves and the have-nots.