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by ctrlalt_g
3652 days ago
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To be honest, it's really confusing. It's not so much that I worship financial success, it's that I'm scared of being financially insecure. It feels as if the only way to secure my future and the future of my children is to become the best. Perhaps some of this insecurity is translated into aggression toward anti-intellectualism, which I see as an attempt to make me feel guilty about wanting to be secure. There's also the larger concern over foreign competition. I know that social well-being is important, but when faced against countries who don't value social well-being, it feels as if America is at a significant disadvantage. After all, who could have competed against China's manufacturing prowess when the Green Movement was unique to the West? If America enacts strong protections for unintelligent people, will we see intelligence be outsourced? I know that my fears are selfish and childish and irrational, but I don't know how else to be. On one hand, I know how absurd it is to believe that intelligence is the solution to all of my problems. But if being smart can't solve my problems, what can? It seems equally absurd that being compassionate is the answer. I don't know. I'm sure none of this makes sense, but it's how I feel. Sorry about the rant. |
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I'm taking some time off from working right now and I think about this a lot.
American life right now is a lot like a combination wager/equation you have to solve.
At some point in life, you're own your own. This could be at 18, post college, or for some - after your parents have paid for college, a car, and maybe a down payment on a house for you.
Whenever this is for you, the game is on - how long will it take you to amass enough savings to pay for your housing, food, and health care, until the age you think you'll die? Variables include your earning capacity, investments (which obviously have all sorts of options and risk), at what age you will no longer be able to do your work (and thus, forced to live off of savings), if you have offspring, etc.
Failure at this game results in potentially terrible living conditions in old age, losing potentially years of life because you can't afford to treat some sort of condition, not being able to pay for food, etc.
Personally, I think it's a tough game to play even with a marketable skill (though to be fair, I wasn't one of the lucky few starting out at 0 when I entered the workforce after college, but most of us aren't.)
I shudder to think how the average American is supposed to win that game.
Taking a year off, it really messes with your head doing the calculus of balancing extended time/freedom to enjoy your life, do want you want, reduce stress, exercise, read, not be a sycophant to some boss/comapny, etc - vs the loss of a six figure salary, and what that would turn into by age 65 (or thereabouts) after hopeful compounded interest and all that.
On the other hand, I could die at 40, or earlier.