As a youth, I often considered myself a slacker. I got good grades without much effort, though I’m not sure I really learned anything (other than how to get good grades without much effort). I regularly put off assignments until the last minute, studying for finals and writing term papers the night before they were due. In fact, my friends gave me the moniker of “The Great Procrastinator” (oddly enough, this was given as a compliment and not a condemnation).
As I’ve grown older and found great joy in educating myself [on topics I like] and working [on projects I choose], I look back at my youth and realize that I never really was as much a slacker as I had assumed. Yes, I procrastinated [things I didn't want to do at the time or felt were unimportant]. But I didn’t sit around and do nothing. I just filled my time with other activities I enjoyed sports, reading, backpacking, hanging out with friends and other self-directed learning experiences.
Our school system is obsessed with giving students “busy work” that doesn’t actually teach them anything. It just gives them something to do. And it’s intentional.
Good students become good employees. They don’t question authority too much and they keep themselves “occupied” with their “occupation.” The managing elite create and eliminate “useless” jobs on a whim in order to affect their stock valuations.
There is a secret about work that certain parties don’t want to let out. Work is fulfilling. Work builds character and, when self-motivated, work can even be enjoyable!
Ask your self-employed friends how they feel about work and likely the response will be positive. It’s often extremely difficult to maintain their businesses, but they wouldn’t give it up, especially if the alternative was to end up in a sea of cubicles. There is something liberating about working on projects that you determine to be important.
Independent children are a threat to corporate establishments. They can’t allow children to work too enthusiastically, for fear they would discover the fulfilling nature of work. This may lead them to create their own work, which would threaten the establishment’s economic dominance.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want an occupation. I do, however, want to work.
