and now for something totally unrelated

So at work today... I was talking to one of my co-workers, Jared. I love Jared to death... he is one of my favorite people. He is very easy going and sympathetic... a good friend to have. Anyway, we were talking and he brings up this "everyone quit their job day" idea. At first I wasn't really sure where he was going with it... my first impression would prove to be wrong. I was seeing it as more superficial... when in fact it was very deep.

So what you ask is this idea? His theory is that if everyone banded together and all quit their jobs on the same day for a certain length of time... that it would cause change in the way our society is run. Ok.. well of course it would.... madness would ensue. Everyone would go ape shit for lack of a better term.

His argument is that we as a group of people are living our lives for all the wrong reasons. That we are actually not living our lives at all. Well I tend to sort of agree there... but there is all sorts of ways of looking at that. He believes that there should be no reason for money... or jobs for that matter. That we all should be able to live our life and not spend it getting up and going to work... doing the same things.. day in and day out. That we should spend our time trying to figure out just what life is meant for instead of doing what our culture has bread us to become.

This whole conversation was a lengthy one. He was sure I wasn't seeing his point, that I couldn't wrap my brain around it. I understood in theory... but that there would be many issue and things that wouldn't work. I told him I liked my life.. yes I would prefer not to HAVE to work... but all in all.. it gives me something to do everyday.

He says that we are all working towards possessions and status... not for the things that we NEED. I disagree because my life is not a state of being just to impress others... my existence is to make me happy with what I have... with what I can enjoy. Not to appease anyone else.

I also brought the whole job thing. In order to have food... somewhere... someone has to be working. Someone is working and raising cattle... someone is working and growing produce. Should they be expected to just DO it... and not get paid for it? He brought up the idea of trading and bartering as well as hunting- that everyone should know how to hunt. I objected to that idea. There are lots of people in this world that do NOT need to have a gun in their hands. This was the only point of mine that he agreed about.

It went on and on... basically us dancing around how we felt. Neither one of us really got the other to see our side of it.... and that's fine. That is what a good debate is all about. I think there are a lot of good valid points to his argument... but honestly, I don't want to revert back to the dark ages. I like my life as I've said. I like the technology that is part of my life. Honestly, if I were to die tomorrow... I would die with no regrets. I lived my life to the fullest I can at this juncture of my life. So not too bad of a way to live I think.