Some people are motivated by status, others romance and family aspirations and the occasional few to religious or intellectual pursuits. Call me arrogant and selfish, but I feel my life and time is too precious to be frittered away working for minimum wage in unskilled employment. I find my mind is constantly being diverted.
Sometimes I find myself consumed with thoughts of finding someone special to share my life with. Someone to be a companion and to help fulfill any number of assorted romantic fantasies of joint travel, buying a house, eating meals together and starting a family. Sometimes that seems to be the ideal goal. But all I end up doing is sitting around, in a daze, fantasising about what life could be like with this person. This often ends abruptly with the realisation that it is often nothing to do with the individual in question, and that indeed any reasonable candidate would do to keep me preoccupied planning some ridiculous future life better than my current one. A horrifying thought. And yet, not much is better than that warm, safe, euphoric feeling achieved when snuggling together with someone special. So should that be the ideal pursuit? And what of breeding? Can it still truly be said that a human beings main purpose in life is procreation? With the environmental concerns to do with overpopulation, and many other esoteric issues at hand, this doesn't seem to be the prudent choice.
So what of furthering oneself economically? Working towards that, 'perfect job' with the wage that will finally allow you to live as you have always dreamed? That life of leisure just doesn't seem possible side by side with a high intensity career. The majority of working people only get paid what the position is worth. With increased salary comes increased stresses and responsibilities. The job starts to become your life. I know of people who talk with envy of friends and acquaintances who work on mine sites earning exorbitant salaries with many perks. But I also know what it is like to be a friend or partner of such a person. Their work schedules slowly take over their lives. At first you make a lot of effort to plan events and meet-ups to fall on their rostered off time, and sometimes they have the energy to make it. After a while they fall out of contact and you just don't see them any more. For partners and spouses it can be very difficult to be alone without their loves for extended periods. If they have chosen to have children you find them missing out on a lot of wonderful moments. In some cases I have even heard of the child not recognising the parent when they return. Is this living? The options aren't great. In one way they are excellent providers for their families but what cost is justified for missing out on life?
At least these people are getting paid a decent salary that in some ways compensates them, but what of the rest of us? Is $15 a reasonable amount to pay a mature age person for an hour of work? An hour of life that they will never get back? Forgive me if I can't find the motivation to go job hunting. I am in the enviable position of caretaking a house and having a housemate who pays the bills in lieu of rent. I clean and maintain, he buys food and we take turns cooking. What's appalling is that this way of living is saving him a great deal of money. If he were to be renting on his own he would barely be able to make do, and he earns a reasonable median salary. It would be nigh impossible to buy or build a house. Times are pretty tough so it's no wonder most everyone I know from 18-25 are still living at home.
The reason for my post is, given all this, I don't actually require money for my survival. Don't get me wrong, I have been applying for jobs like crazy but unless you know someone, getting an in can be very difficult. This isn't the first time I have been in this situation and I am sure it won't be the last. Say you apply for 50 jobs, maybe you get an automated response from 20 of them. 5 might even offer you interviews, but even after a successful interview there is still the physical, police clearance, working with children check, forklift ticket, blue card, white card, MARCSTA, all manner of things that you might have to acquire or go through before you have a chance at employment. I understand that this is to protect them and that it is not easy to fire someone once they are hired, but it is a catch-22. To get to these interviews and tests requires money. Be it for fuel, car maintenance or public transport. Then there is the cost of the tests themselves, which of course aren't paid for by the employing company. So in the end it can cost you $100 or more for a failed job application. Not to mention the time you spent applying, practicing interview techniques, dressing appropriately and getting there.
After all this and in my situation, it is hard to stay motivated to find employment. Because after all this, I'll still be expected to work for 15-18 dollars an hour.
I might be naïve, foolish, arrogant and egotistical, but damn it, my time on earth is finite and it is worth a hell of a lot more to me than that. But what should I do with it?
I've been feeling the same way lately :(
ReplyDeleteI hope you find something that works for you.
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