These are just some random pictures from my collection, but they do remind me why I like to take pictures.
Freedom isn't free, and I'm not talking about whether or not I support our troops or the unjust wars we are fighting in the Middle East. I'm talking about personal freedom. So many of us accept various forms of slavery without thinking twice. I got to thinking about this yesterday when everyone was complaining about "Mondays" on facebook. I realize that most people are just trying to make conversation--see my entry from last week about poor communication. In my head if you whine every time you get ready for work, then there is something seriously wrong. Either you are a perpetual whiner and have no place in polite society, or your job is a soul sucking chore from hell. Work, by it's very nature is generally hard; but if you honestly hate it and your heart is not in it, going to it everyday that makes you no better than a prostitute.
I love the bible verses from Matthew 5:14-16 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Even if you are not a Christian, you can agree with this sentiment. If you've got something good to give, and you don't share it, you've committed quite a crime indeed. Enter the sticky part of this situation:
I have a crappy job, so I can't share my love of ________ with my friends and neighbors. I have to go to my job because somebody has to pay the bills. ________ won't pay the bills, and no one else will either. My life sucks and it's all because I've got these responsibilities.
WRONG
I have no patience for victims and whiners. My pity well ran dry years ago. I have no tolerance for people who believe that they cannot do better. We all have something valid and valuable to contribute to this world, and in your heart of hearts you know without a doubt what it is--stop telling it to shut up. Not sharing it is selfish and greedy. Maybe you are the best drywaller this world has ever seen, to not make walls for a living is a crime my friend. Maybe you understand the sanitation business better than anyone else, to spend your days doing anything else is a waste (pun intended). We are not all Doctors and Scientists, but we all have something we were born to be good at. Someday, you will have to answer for not using your talents and time wisely.
"But Richens I gots the bills to pay, and this guy will pay me the monies if I just show up everyday and not bitch to loudly..." May I present to you the slavery of debt? Maybe it's debt you had no choice but to take on at the time (I've got some myself), or maybe it's a bunch of crap you bought to look cool (I used to have some of that too). Either way you've got these "bills" to pay. Powerful people are not allowed to purchase other human beings outright anymore, there's laws against it. However, they can loan you money, and once they do that, they do essentially own you. I'm not talking to you about your jerk of a boss, he doesn't own you neither does your banker. The guy who gave you the loan to buy your tricked out Pinto Wagon does. Capital One owns you every time you use their card to buy a tasty pair of shoes. GMAC owns you until you pay your house off. Avoid debt, and avoid bondage my friend. Then you don't get trapped at a job you hate with a pig-beast of a boss, just so you can service your bills.
You're already there, I know. I have been too. Sometimes, yes, you have to gut it out at a mediocre/terrible job to make ends meet. Don't let it become a lifestyle. This brings us back to Freedom isn't free. Get your house in order, release yourself from the bondage of debt, make the sacrifices necessary to pursue your life's work (do what you love and the money will come). Most of all have a plan and don't be a whiner. Nobody likes the guy who has spent his entire useful life working at something he hates until he has become a bitter nasty old man with nothing to show for it. Certainly nobody wants to be that guy. Angry young men are sexy, but nobody likes a bitter old bastard.
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