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"Futility of modern life"

Sometimes I look at the way we live life in despair. We spend most of our early life at school, working hard so that when we leave school/university, we have a 'decent' job. For most of us, we work hard all our lives so that when we retire, we have enough money to pass away in comfort. 60 ... 65 years of hard 9 - 5 slog, with most of us finding ourselves lumped in a career that isn't really our thing, just so that we can die in comfort. That seems to be the work ethic of the modern world. Such a shame that the majority of life when we are at our prime, we spend locked away preparing for this nice later life comfortable death.

*sigh*

Well, you never get a chance to try and realise your potential, some do, most don't. For one, the way the education system is structured (through no fault of its own, it has to cater for everyone), is to educate everyone with the basics. Necessary as this is, it doesn't allow for the chance for an individual to specialise. I found myself disillusioned throughout the 6th Form. Studying for A Levels that I only really had a vague interest in because thats all there was, I wanted to be learning about producing electronic music. But there was no direct path to it. I think I see far too many people ambling through university because they're at far too young an age to actually gauge whats out there in the world and see what direction they want to head in. Before long you find yourself stuck in front of a PC working to pay for rent, food and whatever. Ok, I can see the joy of raising a family, but there is a hell of alot out there in the world that can be achieved as well as that. For everything that I would like to do, THIS is the prime time of life to be doing it, and its slipping away. I've found myself stuck in a backwards town far too many times in my life, and LUCKILY am near to finding a way out of it for once to Manchester. Hopefully there I can realise some of what I've wanted to do in life (with a few lucky contacts I have!). I think I've deviated slightly here though, I just think that there should be more to life than just Birth -> Study -> Work -> Children -> Die. You know, you look back with a checklist of what you've done in life and find out that a job that you have a pretty high chance of not having any passion for has intruded for 45 or so years of your life. Time you can never claim back to use again, and now you do have time at your disposable you find that because of age you have certain doors closed to you for one reason or another.

Perhaps I could be a cynical due to being stuck doing something that doesn't really light my fire at all, but still, its a thought that I have.

Ahh, but what do they want to be? Are they dreaming of a different job, a different life? Are their expectations realistic? I think that most people are content to start a family and be something very special on a smaller scale rather than a larger one. A job is just a job. You have to ask why you do that job. The obvious answer is that you work to live, and to provide for a family. The joy comes in the morning.

I'm just fed up with the increasingly work orientated lifestyle of today, I'm not saying that we go back to a hunter/gather state or anything. Its just a bit depressing that most likely alot of us may not live to realise dreams, many who have potential to be something they love can't because of the need to get the bread in, provide for day to day life and a nice comfortable old age. I think its something like 2/3rds of the working population are unhappy with their jobs, looking at my friends around me I can see that its not a hard statistic to believe. I just feel like there must be more to life than being stuffed behind a PC dreaming about what could be.

Widge wrote:
> Sometimes I look at the way we live life in despair.

Modern life? What would you rather have?

Go back a few hundred years. A much larger rich / poor divide, no education unless you were the select privilege few, massive taxing, no free healthcare, no mass education, poor life expectancy, working in fields all hours of the day, no pension, no support if you landed on hard times from the state, no communication and far, far fewer opportunities than are around now.

(This has probably been really poorly argued, but you get the general idea)

I know what I’d rather have.

I can understand that point of view but I think that the majority of people find great pleasure in propogating the species, and take great pride in looking after and watching their off spring develop into well rounded (personality wise, not the obesity bomb again) individuals.

My Dad visited me this morning. It's his birthday and he was picking up some things I got him. He's 71 and both he and my mother are still working, all be it part time now to get by. I hope that he feels that about me, even though I do seem to be a perpetual student. I'd like to think that he's proud of me.

Sometimes I look at the way we live life in despair. We spend most of our early life at school, working hard so that when we leave school/university, we have a 'decent' job. For most of us, we work hard all our lives so that when we retire, we have enough money to pass away in comfort. 60 ... 65 years of hard 9 - 5 slog, with most of us finding ourselves lumped in a career that isn't really our thing, just so that we can die in comfort. That seems to be the work ethic of the modern world. Such a shame that the majority of life when we are at our prime, we spend locked away preparing for this nice later life comfortable death.

*sigh*