Are times slave to the man or is poor man slave to the times? Or Both? About memes, responsibility and our lives.
A month ago, I was offered an invitation to write about the balance between our personal and professional lives. It is a meme of our times.
I know that it is a good thing to take care of all the aspects of our life: career, finances, family, education, friends, health, leisure time for example. However, there are times when some of these aspects become more important or are taking the stage while others sit in the backstage. Then things change, and other areas come to light, moving the spotlight on to something else. And then it changes again.
If not created by us, those changes are then accepted by us for as long as we do not decide to end a situation. I think to accept a situation or to take responsibility for the consequences of our actions is the hardest. And if we do not like those consequences then we should take action. It is really difficult though. Sartre said that “Hell is other people”. In other words, everything that we do not agree with, that we do not like, is the fault of others. And everything that is good in live is owed to us.
It seems to me that it is extremely difficult to accept the fact that, if there is a time when we work a lot and we do not have the time or energy for a vacation, it might be because it is necessary to do so, because we chose that job and decided to stick with it. It is much easier to put the blame on our boss, company, shareholders, clients, colleagues, to think that they do not let us, or they sabotage us.
If we complain that we are the victims of others, it would be good to look at what we do that attracts a tyrant in our lives – and I am not talking about violence in the street without any reason, rape or other similar situations. Many times, when we get into the position of the victim, we chose to keep our head down. I remember hearing when I was little the phrase: The sword won’t cut the head that bows. I was always revolted by this statement and I was thinking: ‘What sword? Why do we even see it like this? ”
Another popular meme among youngsters is “I work on a plantation”. From what I have read and seen in movies, to work on a plantation means to be deprived of liberty; a slave unable to leave that place. I can not see anyone threatened or kept by force somewhere.
We live, for the moment, in a free world. However, freedom comes with the responsibility of our choices. This responsibility comes in turn with the impossibility of blaming others for what we are doing and for what happens in our lives. And that is hard, especially when the times we live in are complicated. Sometimes you sit and ask yourself: are times slave to the man or is poor man slave to the times? Or both?