Post #2: Dolly Parton’s Hit Song 9 to 5
Yes Dolly, it really is enough to drive you crazy if you let it. The only thing that I’ve ever wanted is to be successful, to have a job that allows me to live comfortably. Every weekday, around 5am, I was woken by the sound of my dad opening the garage door to leave for work, not to return home until hours after my school day had already ended. Just being witness to the work ethic and dedication that the man I admire so much possesses has forever planted a desire in me to be like him, to give myself and those I love the best life possible.
I’m in a very lucky position in that my education, the career field I’m entering, is my passion, it’s something that I want to work 9 to 5. Or at least it should be. Recently, however, I’ve been somewhat hit in the face by the hard reality that is the work force. With the amount of summer classes I’m taking right now, I’ve found myself in the situation of working 12 hour shifts every day that I’m not in class, and I can’t help but think why?
Obviously, money. We need money to live comfortably, particularly in America. And it’s a silly thing to even complain about considering how privileged I am to be going to college and to have a job that works with my class schedule, not everyone just gets opportunities like that. But I can’t help feeling like a cog, just going and going, waiting for the minimal hours I have each week to see my loved ones or go to lunch or watch a tv show without multitasking homework. What’s the point of making money when I don’t have the time to even enjoy it? What’s the point of working your whole life for a short lived retirement and then dying with money in the bank? And yet, like my dad, people do it every day for decades with no complaint, they do it because that’s what they need to do.
I read this tweet a long time ago about how people in the US live to work rather than work to live. It absolutely rings true, if you want to just sit back and enjoy life here then that number in your bank account better be followed by six more. Maybe it’s just an angsty end-of-college phase I’m in but the idea living to work is no longer the dream. But, back to the wise words of Moderna Queen Parton: “It’s all taking and no giving”, and I don’t imagine that’ll be changing any time soon and anyway, I have to wake up for work in 6 hours so this post needs to end.