So What's New and Exciting?

A simple question right? Well, too often the answer is also quite simple: Nothing. Seriously, go ask anyone. Ask them what's new and exciting and I bet you they'll say something to the effect of "nothing." And yet, when you call up your friends and such to go hang out, often they're simply too busy to go and do something simple, like sit down for a drink.

'Cause let's face it, people are very busy these days. Most of my associates are consumed by their jobs, extra activities, partners, etc. So, how can people that are so damn busy have nothing new and exciting going on in their lives? Is everyone's existence that menial?

Sadly, yes.

Got into a good conversation with a friend of mine today, and this very topic was the centre of our discussions. As I've mentioned before, I believe the key motive underlying everything that we humans do is centred around one thing and one thing alone: survival of the self, and sadly in our hardcore capitalist society, a large part of survival is money. So people work, slave, and toil not for personal fulfillment, but so they can make enough to simple get by. Sad, isn't it, what our society is.

Our society is stress, greed, and discontent. Think about it. You work hard and make a good bit of money or get a bonus. Great, now you can go have a good time, but first you gotta round everyone up to go hang with, which is always a feat unto itself. If you're successful, look at how quick most of you burn out from simple fatigue carried over from the work week. Kind of puts a damper on the whole outing.

Or instead, let's say you use that cash to go and buy something new, something you've wanted for a long time. How often have you done this only to realize that whatever item you got is ultimately not as fulfilling as you'd hoped? Its happened to me and I know its happened to you. Why is that? Well, our consumer capitalist society says "buy, buy, buy," even if you don't need it, and even if you do get something you like, you're often still working so much to enjoy it fully.

My friend said he read an article that theorized if the entire human race united under one global government and worked together, we would only need about 10% of the population to work to simply survive; to create the necessities of life. And of course because a lot of those 90% would get bored doing nothing, they'd still do some kind of work to achieve something and feel useful. In short, we'd still have a strong global work force but there'd be less stress and more joy.

Now this theory could never happen simply due to human prejudice and greed, but it's interesting to think that if everything wasn't so damn petty and stupid you could actually break free of that desk you're chained to.

So where is my whole rambling rant going? Well, basically I find myself constantly frustrated with the lack of any progress for people to actually live. For my own part, I've resolved to stop living my job, to stop staying and working so late and not only do I have my bosses approval on that, but I've generally been sticking to it and feeling better for it. I'd even answer the "What's new" question honestly, except people are so busy or consumed with their own stresses that they don't want to hear the answer. Funny how that works to.

While individually we can't change capitalism or the global economy, we can always start with a little self improvement. Try to scale yourself back a little at work, and try to use that time to start living your real life. If you can convince your partner or friends to do the same, even just a bit, you might actually have something new and exciting to talk about.