It’s a Wednesday morning.
Summer has technically passed although the heat that marks it lingers on
in typical South Texas style. I have the
paper open on my desk and the weather man on TV chatters on in the background
about potential, but unlikely, rain so I pay him no heed. I read the day’s news, most of which is
consumed by a Papal visit to the States, but don’t learn much so I give it up
as a bad job and return to my computer to begin the day officially. This is pretty typical and a routine I’ve
grown quite fond of. It centers me and
allows me both a period of serenity during which I can drink my coffee as well
as a quiet hour during which I can bring myself up on the goings on in the
world. What would make this particular
morning atypical (or perhaps what we would once have considered atypical), however,
was the visitor I was soon to receive as well as the substance of our ensuing
dialogue.
He was young, proud and had been working at the company
for a little less than a year. This is
serious tenure, mind you, for the latest product editions of the American
college system. His concern was that he
felt he had plateaued here and that there was no room for growth (from the very
bottom) and that he felt stagnated. He
wondered if he might perhaps have several people working beneath him and
undertake more of a leadership position within the company. This is a highly respectable career goal, I
admit with pleasure, but simply premature.
He wanted to be running meetings, a corner office, parking spot and fat
paycheck with which he could dazzle his friends. He had been here less than a year and had no
previous experience but these considerations were beside the point, I guess.
Sadly, this is not a unique situation. The young workforce emerging into the job
market now are among the most entitled of any that have ever preceded
them. They’ve watched their entire
adolescence the astronomical rises of people like Zuckerberg, Kalanick,
DeWolfe, Systrom or even that piece of shit, Martin Shkreli, who was recently
called out trying to cash in at the expense of AIDS and Cancer patients. What they don’t understand is that to do this
you have to either win the lottery, like the former examples, or sell your
fucking soul, like the latter. What you
never saw on the news were the thousands of others with equally marketable
products who failed. They didn’t fail
because they were worse or less talented, they failed simply because that’s
what the mob decided for them. The
internet is fickle and cruel and a good idea isn’t enough anymore. The world is awash with them. People have to choose yours, and no one has
figured out the trillion dollar formula for that yet. You can roll the dice if you want to play the
game but it is likely going to come up snake eyes every fucking time. But I digress. This culture has the unfortunate and damaging
side-effect of breeding an entire generation of young people that want to be on
the top of the ladder immediately and without work and unfortunately it doesn’t
work that way in the real world.
Now, the fundamental problem in this scenario is simple,
although not easily corrected.
Jealousy. You see a young guy
with fast cars, jets and statuesque women (or men) and you say to yourself that
you want that, too. Of course you do, so
do I. Everyone does, let’s be real here. Jealousy is one of the most toxic emotions
and cruelest pranks from God’s joke bag ever to befall humanity. It’s toppled empires, destroyed families,
driven people mad and now produced an entire generation of worthless college
grads (I’m speaking in generalities, of course, and obviously a bit unfairly, I
admit.). It doesn’t have to be that way
though. I was thinking about it just
recently and wrote the following passage to which all the preceding text has
lead us. Perhaps you will take something
of value from it. Perhaps not. Either way, it is offered.
Jealousy. It is a poison. Gaining strength continuously through the
further destruction of its host body. It
is as damaging as it is unconquerable.
Hated, transparent but unavoidable, despite the protestations of
reason. Paradoxically, people are and
always will be jealous of the others among whom they live. A man is jealous of me because I am
well-traveled or because I have a nice car.
I am jealous of him because he plays more skillfully than I on the piano
or simply because he is tall. However,
this jealousy does not make me tall nor he traveled. Therefore, logic demands that instead of
despising others because they have what we do not we should embrace them so
that together we might have everything.
Only then will he grab something for me that is beyond my reach or
entertain me with his piano. Only then
can I share with him my knowledge of the world or lend him my car. Together we are complete, apart we resent
each other because we are not.
Thanks for listening.
Your Friend,
Mac
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