The worth of work

    I’ve never had a paying job. That’s a weird thing to admit, I know. To be honest, I don’t know that I have a really good reason for not getting a job. I didn’t get one in High School because my mother told me I could make money at home shredding. I didn’t get one in college because I was already overstressed with trying to keep up with all the homework I had. I didn’t get a job after college because honestly, I hate the application process. I hate the thought of getting rejected so much, and when you don’t have the necessary qualifications listed in any of the job applications you find, it’s frustrating.

    I suppose you could call the blog a sort of job. I don’t know if you’d be right though.

   It shouldn’t be a surprise, but I still live with my mother even though I’m twenty-six. Honestly, I don’t really feel that ashamed about it. I just wish I knew I could get a job if I needed one. Is it wrong of me to think we should really stop expecting eighteen-year-olds to move out as soon as it’s financially feasible? I totally get not wanting to share a house with your parents, but so many people seem to think that if someone is living with their parents without a job when they’re legally an adult, that means they’re a leech. That’s not wrong, but it’s a lot more nuanced than that. I would think living through the great recession would make us very aware of that fact.

   I don’t mind the fact that society looks down on me for not working and for living with my mother. I will own that I spend way too much time on Youtube. I made my choice in life well aware of the outcome, and I’m okay with that. What I’m not okay with is lumping everyone else who doesn’t work with me.  

    I don’t know. Maybe I’m just an entitled idiot. But in a country where it’s rare to get more than two weeks’ vacation per year, I feel like it’s valid to ask if we’re putting too much emphasis on work, and I know more and more people think we do. So maybe this Great Resignation we’re going through is a good thing, as a wake-up call to employers who force their employees to work for as close to nothing as possible. I just wish we were at a point where everyone could ask “why do I need to work?” I truly think that if given the choice, most people would work, even if they didn’t have to. Just look at America’s many billionaires. The problem is that we equate the work you do with your worth as a person. Maybe that would be fair, but it’s gotten to the point where we put plumbers and fast-food employees in the same tier, even if one makes way more than the other. Am I wrong in thinking work should be a choice? That no one should have to work if they don’t want to? I know it wasn’t that long ago when everyone needed to work in order for everyone to have everything they needed, but that’s not the case anymore. To be honest, I can’t think of another way of measuring someone’s worth as a person that isn’t what they do for a living. I was raised in America after all. Maybe we could measure what you donate time or money to, or how many people like you, or what things you talk about. Maybe we could measure what you do in your spare time. It’s one of the many, many things I think we, as a society, need to come to a consensus on.