But What Now?

Most have heard of take back the night. Well how about a movement to take back the day!

My sister in law is 26 months from retirement. Her agency has decided to put her in the worst job of all for the rest of the time she’s there. Why, I ask again, do we go to work?

Let’s face it, we’re all slaves to the dollar. All of us, even those of us who work for ourselves. We’re all ultimately slaves to the dollar bill. It’s cool that sometimes it all meshes and you get to make money doing something you love, or at least enjoy doing, or maybe just find interesting and a good way to pass the time.

It’s a major shame that our nation is currently reeling in a recession and people are freaking out. I often think that the greatest shame is our lack of imagination and our willingness to continue to believe that somehow our government officials and employers are responsible for our well-being and happiness.

I write from a place of knowing this first hand. I’m in a job that thankfully has improved in the last year and I’m enjoying my time at work. But, if I had my druthers, I would be doing something different. Why do I stay at my job and why does my sister in law stay at hers? Easy…

We both work for government agencies that offer pretty decent retirement packages as long as we stick it out and follow their rules concerning age and time in service. If you make it to go, you collect $200 every month for the rest of your life.

It’s better than it was at the turn of the 20th century when children worked in factories. Ok… However, and this may be so radical to be impossible to take in, we have a long way to go.

The information age is a whole lot better than the industrial age so I really think we’re getting there. Sadly, one aspect of the information age is that blowhards make so much noise and stir people up at the very basest levels of their beings that it’s the old one step forward, two steps back scenario.

Let’s rejoice the one step foreward and keep moving in that direction. Viva la retirement, and above all, viva la personal freedom and creativity and joy!