Work sucks, but why should it?

Today, I enjoyed an excellent conversation with a good friend of mine (yes, the Bald Eagle does have friends...even if he does not have readers!). A good, soul-to-soul conversation is one of the greatest gifts in life. It costs nothing but time, effort, and selflessness, and yet it reaps incalculable benefits: connection, fulfillment, and enlightenment.

So, kudos to my buddy, and to all the friends who have helped make me who I am and who give my life meaning.

Yet, the Bald Eagle now digresses, so, like a one-hit wonder of the early '90's, I will go "quick to the point, to the point, no fakin'" though I do not promise to "cook MC's like a pound of bacon."

Our conversation this morning revolved around meaningful working and living. In a nutshell, we concluded that there is little point to working for the sake of work itself, for the sake of material gain, prestige, etc. Rather, work is meant to be an extension of the self that extends the self. In other words, work, ideally, should be meaningful, and it should respect the dignity of the human person and his or her desire to live life in full.

Obviously, reality does not always live up to this standard. And yes, many people work for the sake of its fruits - i.e. the money needed to support self, family, etc - and there is nothing wrong with that. Yet, I suspect that for many other people - including myself - this is not enough. Pope John Paul put it best when, in a letter "On Human Work," he noted that work is meant for the human person, not the other way around. Put differently, we are not destined to be cogs in a machine, but, rather, to grow and expand ourselves through work. Anything less leads to dissatisfaction, diminishment, and madness.

Thus, for example, my friend is an attorney in a powerful firm in a prestigious east coast city, making money hand over fist (to pay off backbreaking school loans) and ably performing tasks that do intrigue and challenge him to some extent. By prevailing American standards (which, quite frankly, are insanely shallow and materialistic), one would think he would be happy....yet he is not. He wants more out of life, and since so much of life in this work-crazy country is work, therefore, he wants more out of work. Good for him, and good for the many others like him.
They give real meaning to "the pursuit of happiness," which, in the end, is really "the pursuit of authentic humanity."

So I say to hell with work for the sake of money, prestige, upward-mobility, and other such bullshit; to hell with a warped economic system that favors the fortunate and screws the unlucky; to hell with a so-called "culture" that merely serves to stupify the masses and keep power and prosperity in the hands of those who already have it; and, finally, to hell with work that serves the system and not the person.

On the other hand, up with those who are dissatisfied with this meaningless nonsense and work to find something better; up with those who change careers to discover jobs that are more fulfilling; up with those who find careers that serve others rather than themselves; and up with those who march to the beat of their own drum rather than that of the system.

As for me, I don't wanna work, I just want to blog on my blog all day. Anyone who has a problem with that can kiss my Bald Eagle butt.

Tainted and Sainted Athletes

Well, well, well, so everyone's good buddy Barry Bonds finally got his home run record. Rah, rah, rah. Much ink has been spilled about the questionable qualities of this record and this athlete, so why spill more? Because it's fun, because Bonds is an arrogant, selfish, steroid-using sack of surliness, and because, frankly, the majority of professional athletes are just as bad as he is.

How often have we heard about pro athletes breaking the law, complaining about contracts, or taking their good fortune for granted? If I hear one more sports stud carp about how he needs an extra few million dollars per year because he "needs to do what's best for [his] family," I will boycott every professional sport and stick to C-Span.

Of course, I am lying - I am a sycophantic slave to professional sports, and have been since I could throw a baseball, shoot a basketball, or tackle another human being. Sports are just so much fun to play and watch, and nothing beats watching the best playing their best. Therefore I, and millions of other dupes, will keep supporting these megomaniacal spoilsports as long as they do not spoil their sports completely.

Yet they are getting close to doing this. Who can believe in baseball when a hallowed record has been stolen by a guy more fuel-injected than a NASCAR racecar? Who can count on football when hordes of players waste entire minicamps holding out for more money, only to swiftly become injured or exposed as overrated? And who can care for basketball with pointshaving refs and selfish superstars?

Unfortunately, I and many others still can. Although these pathologically pompous pros leave a bad taste in my mouth, they are still fun to watch, and I am a shallow, diversion-craving hypocrite who will keep on watching - with my ears and nose plugged from the sound and stench of their stupidity.

So go on with your bad selves, Barry and buddies, because, though you care nothing for us or anything beyond yourselves, we will still be watching, whether we like it or not.