25 and Disappointed: Survival should not mean Struggling

There are days I wish I could just leave my job.

But I don’t do it. Because I need to pay my rent. I need to eat. I don’t have any other income.

I am afraid that I am not alone in this. I see people who are smart and talented - doing things they don’t love. They settle. Not out of choice, but out of fear. The fear of being homeless, being hungry. They live in a world that demands payment of bills more than anything.

That brings a simple, maybe naive thought:

What if food and shelter were guaranteed for everyone?

What if one need not be working just to survive?

Is it wild to wish for these? Are these not the basic human rights…

If the basic needs were covered, what could we become?

Artists, teachers, thinkers, healers - they are made out of passion. People can volunteer more, care for the elderly, innovate better, or take time and get a chance to do things slower…

The working class would not have to burn themselves to keep the lights on. The poor wouldn’t have to beg.

What if people just stop working??

If survival pressure is removed, people could get a chance to choose their work and they work willingly and in a better way.

Who is going to feed people??

Well, it requires careful planning and collective contribution. The haves should be willing to give away for the have-nots. The priorities of growth can be shifted, if that results in a better growth.

We are talking about freedom. To choose. Everyone should deserve it. Without asking.

Security of life should not be a privilege. One should not be a layoff away from falling apart. Existence itself is being monetised, unfortunately.

This is far away idealistic and maybe a nonsense. This is even sounding like a fantasy. Our time on this planet is limited. We would be better off if we spent it living rather than surviving.

P. S. Thanks to ChatGPT for helping with the matter.

Comments

25 and Disappointed: Can’t we choose simple life?

There’s something strange about the way we live now. It’s not enough to do your job. You have to grow. Climb. Upskill. Network. Earn more. Spend more. Repeat. People areound you - even the ones who seem tired - still say, “Keep pushing.” The ones ahead keep reaching higher. The ones behind are told to catch up. And if you stand still for even a moment, they say you’re wasting time. But no one explains why. Why is a peace a problem? Why is being satisfied with what you have seen as a failure? This idea of “simple life” - it used to be normal. Work. Come home. Cook. Be with the people you love. Rest. Now it’s rare. Or romanticized. Or quietly looked down on. We’re told that success means constant movement. That we need to hustle, or we’ll be left behind. But behind what, really? We’ve normalized the rat race, without asking who started it. And the truth is - only a few can actuallly win it. Most people burn out trying. Others fake their way through it, smiling through st...

25 and Disappointed: The tragedy of leaving home

It’s strange, isn’t it? We live in a world with high-speed internet, 5G, instant messages, Zoom calls and flight tickets that can take us across the country in a few hours. The world has never been more connected. And yet… we’re all so far apart. We are becoming disabled in this tech enabled world. People move away from home more than ever. To study. To work. To “build a future.” Yes, it’s needed sometimes. For learning. For exposure. But often… it seems we are allowing it quietly more than required. Maybe it’s just the system forcing us to. All the jobs are in cities. All the money, infrastructure and “opportunities”. Hence we leave. We leave behind warm meals, evening walks with parents, familiar lanes and families that actually feel like festivals. We leave people who raised us - and see them only on phone calls or during a short visit squeezed between deadlines. For what? For a cubicle in a crowded city, A rented flat that never feels like home, Weekends that vanish in chores,...

Bye-bye strict timetables...! - The Bloggers League 2022

Author: Rama Subrahmanyam (ramasubrahmanyam.m@gmail.com) When we are planning for multi-tasking, we divide our time and allocate it for each task. That is a great thing, as it gives a chance for incremental growth, eventually getting compounded... Scheduling makes us punctual; sometimes forces us to be punctual if someone is counting on us, say an examination, office meeting, so on... Besides strict things, some activities should happen at planned times, like sports, gym, etc. But, we still have things, that can be done in our free time - say reading books, solving puzzles, or learning something of our passion. Should we also maintain the timetable in those cases...? Well, may not be that necessary... We get used to a task at the same time if we have a strict timetable; In a way, can also affect our peace... Suppose due to urgent work, we missed a task - We may develop a bad feeling, ...

The Eternal Thing

Search This Blog