Expression of Self through what you sell and what you buy
I believe that everyone should live their dream life, which means that you and I can, everyday, do whatever we feel that is important. We do things because we want to, not because we have to.
I haven’t studied sociology, and even though my sister has a Degree on the topic, I still don’t have much knowledge about the subject. But I know that there’s two kinds of ‘ideas’ – the capitalist, and the socialist. Capital means that people have the power and channels through which can make money in any way they want (most choose to have a paid job). Socialist means that there’s a more common playing field, and the Government helps out on certain aspects (like health and education) so that everyone can have a basic minimum lifestyle. At least that’s how I understand it to be.
So the country that we live in, and many other countries are run by a mixture of both ideas – capitalist (you can make your own money) & socialist (the Government will get your back if/when needed). So we are free to do what we please to, but somehow most of us don’t. Some of us, have jobs that they don’t like doing, that doesn’t give them a sense of satisfaction.
Capitalism, more specifically, Henry Ford, has created the concept of mass production. He came up with the idea of having loads of people, in one place, doing some kind of product. They wouldn’t be involved in all activities of the company they work for, but they’d only do the part they are assigned to do. This concept improved efficiency and created huge profits for the owners of these companies. You can still make money off of this, through the stock market, but still, I don’t think that it’s right.
Think about it, we go to shops, big shops who have 15 items, of varying sizes. Let’s say there’s 3 sizes. That’s 45 of each item. When you buy something, 44 more people will be wearing the same thing as you. When you buy a car, same thing. If you buy a new car, you’d go to a showroom, choose you ‘extras’ and voila, you have your car, that’s probably produced by robots.
Don’t get me wrong, I love efficiency. I’m an engineer, and have spent the past 4 years helping companies becoming more efficient. So I do understand the concept of efficiency, and I keep it close to heart. But what if we could be efficient on a personal level. What if everyone did jobs, start to finish, to serve their own clients. What if, whenever you wanted to buy a car, you go meet a dude (or a gal), you discuss how you want your car, you get some sketches, choose the ideal shape of your car, and wait for the final product. Then the person who’s passionate about car-making would start designing, and creating a ‘shopping list’, of metal, or wheels, glass, switches, everything you need to make a car. He then calls the man who loves metal, and together they discuss the best way for the metal-maker to carve the car, with the glass maker to create windows and mirrors that are seamless to the design, and to other people whose input is needed for the completion of the car. If all products we buy were like that, we’d be living in a much happier world.
In that world, people would have ‘work’ they love doing. It would involve them, adding value to someone through doing what they love doing (and are naturally good at). I don’t want to say that everyone would have their own ‘business’ because it sounds too big, let’s say that everyone would be a freelancer. In that world, spending the money you’ve earned will be more rewarding too. You’ll get to talk with the maker of your product, and you can be creative in how you want thing, so that you can let your possessions be an expression of art to represent who you are.
Please don’t settle for a job that you don’t love. Do something worthwhile with your time. I now want to help you find out what that is, I’m still discovering myself, and believe me, it’s very exciting.
