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Acadec speech
Jan. 16th, 2003 11:48 amImagine this: Unit 6825 is awakened by bells, eats the standard pre-prepared food-formulas, dresses in standard clothing, and leaves to perform a mind-numbing task that someone, somewhere, must find important. The unit returns to the dwelling and sleeps, only to repeat this cycle the next day.
At the moment this scenario belongs only to the realms of nightmarish projections. But one feature of this existence particularly stands out in my eyes: the lack of any work that directly gives tangible benefits to the worker.
Even today, it is possible to maintain a similar existence. You can buy clothes, send them to the dry cleaner, depend on others to grow your food, and buy pre-packaged TV meals, doing scarcely any work other than your job—which may not seem to have any significance to anyone besides your boss. This lifestyle may provide for your physical well being, but doing nothing with a tangible result can lead to a sense of futility.
One way to prevent this is to take up some productive activity—whether sewing, knitting, needlepoint, gardening, or creating new clothes. These activities are personally fulfilling, and they make you realize that you, personally, have the ability to create something useful and beautiful. Also, knowing the effort necessary to create something makes you appreciate others’ efforts more.
Knowing a useful skill—and realizing that that skill is useful—makes you feel more connected to life. You actually have a purpose, and doing something that gives you an opportunity for creativity lets you unleash your creative side. You aren’t just an indistinguishable cog in the great machine of life. You’re an individual cog that squeaks to the tune of "Ode to Joy" or is painted with starbursts and fantastic images. Isn’t that better?
Knowing skills also gives you a sense of the value of work. Most of the time, we never consider those who make it possible for us to get our modern conveniences. But when we make some of them ourselves, we reconsider.
A few summers ago while on a visit to my aunt’s, she and I decided it would be fun to pick blackberries. Hours later, after the blackberry thorns and juice had tattooed little purple dots on my fingers and both of us were hot, sweaty, and smarting from mosquito bites, we didn’t even have a flat of blackberries, and what we did have seemed far too little for all we’d given to pick them. As we were driving back, we figured that each of those pints would sell for around $4 in stores, and that only a fraction of that would go to those who picked them. It’s selfish to not consider the labor of others, like saying "my time is worth more than yours." Working for yourself can help keep you from falling into this trap.
I’m not sponsoring a return to subsistence farming. I appreciate the comforts that efficiency brings. But I fear that we may have moved too far towards "efficiency" and "convenience," and have lost any sense of self-sufficiency. Practicing some craft would help all of us cogs.
Needs some rewrites. I'll get the stuff from the car during lunch to revise it.
Other: People are dying. Yikes.
At the moment this scenario belongs only to the realms of nightmarish projections. But one feature of this existence particularly stands out in my eyes: the lack of any work that directly gives tangible benefits to the worker.
Even today, it is possible to maintain a similar existence. You can buy clothes, send them to the dry cleaner, depend on others to grow your food, and buy pre-packaged TV meals, doing scarcely any work other than your job—which may not seem to have any significance to anyone besides your boss. This lifestyle may provide for your physical well being, but doing nothing with a tangible result can lead to a sense of futility.
One way to prevent this is to take up some productive activity—whether sewing, knitting, needlepoint, gardening, or creating new clothes. These activities are personally fulfilling, and they make you realize that you, personally, have the ability to create something useful and beautiful. Also, knowing the effort necessary to create something makes you appreciate others’ efforts more.
Knowing a useful skill—and realizing that that skill is useful—makes you feel more connected to life. You actually have a purpose, and doing something that gives you an opportunity for creativity lets you unleash your creative side. You aren’t just an indistinguishable cog in the great machine of life. You’re an individual cog that squeaks to the tune of "Ode to Joy" or is painted with starbursts and fantastic images. Isn’t that better?
Knowing skills also gives you a sense of the value of work. Most of the time, we never consider those who make it possible for us to get our modern conveniences. But when we make some of them ourselves, we reconsider.
A few summers ago while on a visit to my aunt’s, she and I decided it would be fun to pick blackberries. Hours later, after the blackberry thorns and juice had tattooed little purple dots on my fingers and both of us were hot, sweaty, and smarting from mosquito bites, we didn’t even have a flat of blackberries, and what we did have seemed far too little for all we’d given to pick them. As we were driving back, we figured that each of those pints would sell for around $4 in stores, and that only a fraction of that would go to those who picked them. It’s selfish to not consider the labor of others, like saying "my time is worth more than yours." Working for yourself can help keep you from falling into this trap.
I’m not sponsoring a return to subsistence farming. I appreciate the comforts that efficiency brings. But I fear that we may have moved too far towards "efficiency" and "convenience," and have lost any sense of self-sufficiency. Practicing some craft would help all of us cogs.
Needs some rewrites. I'll get the stuff from the car during lunch to revise it.
Other: People are dying. Yikes.
