After watching my Dad come home every evening and look absolutely exhausted and stressed and hearing him complain about work I definitely wasn’t looking forward to being in his position when I was older. Nonetheless I went through the typical life, did some odd jobs through high school and college. Then when my Dad retired I started to hear my oldest brother complain about work/co-workers. He’s had three different jobs within the span of about a year and a half and I can tell he hasn’t really liked any place he’s worked, each one is the typical number cruncher office job with annoying bosses. Graduation was approaching for me and now I really wasn’t looking forward to being like my Dad and my Brother.
But my life was put on hold, because after graduation I had major surgery which took a long time to recover from. But it was around this time I discovered both this subreddit and reinvigorated my love for punk music, music I listened to when I was younger but never fully understood, I just liked that it was loud but then I started to listen to the lyrics and pay attention to the straightforward and in your face messages. It’s music that’s taught me alot and makes me want to learn more, and I’ve done exactly that. During my recovery my reading and self-education really took off, I realized what a sham it all was, what the previous generations have left behind for the rest of us. I also took this time to pursue personal projects, mainly writing, so I could fully express myself and after all those years of school and odd jobs I finally felt like I had the time to do something I liked. Suffice to say I was pretty pissed off about things, and even if that anger and frustration can be tiring, and all the shit in the world can sometimes make me overwhelmed, anxious, and depressed, the punk ethos is still there and pops up from time to time and helps me keep going. And there’s a Henry Rollins quote that I often turn to, “If you hate your parents, the man or the establishment, don't show them up by getting wasted and wrapping your car around a tree. If you really want to rebel against your parents, out-learn them, outlive them, and know more than they do.”
Although think this way of thinking really started with my older brother, I would read the books he read for college classes like Slaughter-House Five, Fight Club—one of my favorite quotes from any book is “We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like”–as well as the plays of Sam Shepard, all of which opened my mind to different ways of thinking the same way punk did. So my brother and I would talk about these books a lot and discuss their themes of the American Dream and lost and forgotten generations. And we started to share the same attitudes, he started to hate work and took every opportunity to criticize corporate America and billionaires and now he’s always thinking of ways to go off on his own, start a small business with friends or something that he'll actually like. And with his salary/savings and business knowledge I think he could definitely do it. His girlfriend is another person that I feel like we both kind of affected, she’s listened to or overheard our conversations and I remember her saying one time how work can be stressful but followed it up with “but then I realize my job basically doesn’t matter.” She’s right, it’s an office job that really only matters within the company. I’ve had similar conversations with my other brother and I remember him tell my Mom how he thinks the work week should be shorter and that there's proof short worker weeks have made for better results and lead to overall happiness. And Mom has of course heard all the complaints from my oldest brother about work, co-workers, bosses, etc.
And speaking of my Mom just recently I had a conversation with her about a job I’m starting, she asked me if I was excited and to be honest no I’m not but right now it’s just something I have to do and not something I want to do. I took it a step further and said, “I’m not like the typical American who’s always thinking about work. How much a job pays or what job sounds fun.” I told her she’s always talking about this kind of stuff even though she’s retired and has plenty of money, enough to recently buy a house. I felt like a bit of an asshole because I seemed to offend her a bit, and she said “well work is an important part of life.” She turned to my Dad for back up and he sheepishly agreed. And I said, “yeah it's important for Americans.” Still I felt bad and apologized and said I shouldn’t have said anything. I obviously didn’t mean to take anything away from her hard work which I’m very thankful for but at the same time I was reminded of that John Adams quote “ I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy…” etc. I feel a large part of being a parent is working hard to give your kids a good enough life so they have the support and freedom to pursue their passions or better yet give your children the life you never had and I hope my Mom understands this and that her hard work and sacrifice isn't in vein. So as bad as I felt in the moment I feel like I made her confront something even if it made us both a little uncomfortable. But now I don't feel all that bad because a few days later I overhear a conversation she’s having with a neighbor, something about him working a half day which he said he’s looking forward to and my mom said, “That sounds nice, work is overrated,” and I could just hear the energy and slight anger in his voice as he proclaimed “Yeah! Work is overrated!”
Obviously I shouldn’t give myself all the credit as there’s been a big shift of attitudes in general in recent years and I’m still young and have a lot to learn but whenever I’ve stated my anti-work opinions and criticized America and see others start to share those opinions I can't help but feel like I’ve influenced them.