I’m rewatching Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark for its friendly familiar action-adventure hospitality and its ridiculously long title. I wish I had Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (I think is its name) as I have only seen it once. I didn’t buy into the criticism that the whole inter-dimensional aliens thing was too far out and unbelievable; compared with the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail it’s pretty much on the same sort of level. And surviving a nuclear explosion by hiding in a fridge might be impossible (but it might not be too); then again surviving a fall from an aeroplane by sitting in a rubber dingy is unlikely to say the least.
But isn’t this what Sundays are for; for sitting in a centrally heated cocoon recovering from an unforgiving and ungrateful working week, dreading tomorrow’s inevitable return to a world where individuality is suppressed and basic human dignity is denied. The obvious answer is no; a resounding and undeniable NO. A weekend is called a weekend for a reason. It was named so by humans, and it is the time when humans’ working week is at an end. The two days when workers get to spend their free time with other workers in a mass communal break from the shit we ordeal from our bosses and our customers. The weekend is not a time to work.
Our ancestors fought and died for our right to share a weekend rest period with our friends and family. Well, they probably did; I don’t actually know, but that’s the sort of thing people say isn’t it. People fought and died for all sorts of things we take for granted and fail to appreciate: the right to vote, the right to live in peace, the right to freedom of thought and expression, the right to work and be paid for it, and the right to a weekend. And the more we take them for granted the more we forget their importance, and the more we risk losing them. Do not forget to value your free time, or someone may come along and take it from you; as you weren’t giving it its proper value you’ll barely notice it until it’s gone. Perhaps better advise is do anything you can to avoid working in the service, retail or customer care industries. They will chew you up for minimum wage with little regard for your personality, happiness or freedom.
This is a message to myself as someone stuck in a loop of customer service jobs I despise and haunted by the daunting thought that I may never achieve any of my personal career goals; to make a living being creative, to enjoy my job so it isn’t work, and to be happy in all areas of my life. I know that people achieve these goals; I’ve seen them on TV and read about them in books. Successful scientists, artists, writers, entrepreneurs: all these people are leading satisfying lives, and have the advantage of knowing where they are going and what they are doing. Never am I more unsure that happiness exists in my future than when I remember what I do for a living and the pointless way I spend my working day.
Sigh and a massive shrug stretching infinite astronomical units through subspace from here to the delta quadrant and beyond where perhaps might lie a job worth doing. A job with weekends free to spend eating sausages and drinking Glühwein mit Schuss at the German Christmas market, having a jolly nice walk, and celebrating life in all the best ways. Anyway this ramble has gone on too long. Kevin, pull yourself together.
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