Welcome to the Machine

It has been a long while since I posted anything here. I’m feeling creative lately, and figured I’d get back into the “3 minute morning” recommended in the book “the artist’s way.” Although, being someone who doesn’t color well within the lines, mine will most likely be a “10 to 15 minute morning.” ;-)

So I was walking to work today – as it seems like I do EVERY day – and started thinking about myself and my place in the world. I take the same subway to the same subway stop 5 days a week, and basically walk down the same street to go to the same job at the same place. This is America. Welcome to the machine.

We are all cogs in this bizarre machine, each performing our little set of tasks that keeps society running smoothly. (Although as we seem to have passed our zenith as an empire, and are currently careening headlong into the ditch of “has been” as a country, I’m not so sure it runs as smoothly as we think anymore.)

“They” -- those with all the power and money and influence -- have, over hundreds of years, set up such a sick overall economic and “vocational” structure and have layered it over and over and over and over again – like an onion. And yes, that onion stinks – and will make you cry if you try to peel back or cut through any of the layers. I say this because I am often on the verge of tears as I make my daily rush from Rockefeller Center to St. Bart’s – the place of my employment. I don’t hate my job or my place of employment. But as a creative type, I hate routine. And I hate the societal structure that demands every person has to jump through hoops for 40+ years just to put food on the table.

I have spoken before about the madness of full time work in general. And I shall most likely later talk about the inequality of this system “they” have set up – one that basically favors lighter skin tone in terms of professional vocation. But all I wanted to say on this particular day, as I go to take my place in the machine, is that I am sorely disappointed in this culture for not taking better advantage of my education, skillset, and most importantly, my creativity and talent. There are probably a dozen different creative pursuits that would make for an awesome job that I would love, and one that would actually contribute something meaningful to a culture that ostensibly could use more meaningful contributions from creative types such as myself. But here I am. My name is Joe. I’m working in a button factory. And they said, just push this button with your right hand. Once you got that down, here’s another button to push with your left hand. Before you know it, you are pushing buttons with every part of your body that is capable of pushing a button. This is life. This is America. Even for an incomprehensible number of talented, creative folks such as myself.

Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful to have a job – a paycheck, health insurance, retirement, paid vacation, etc. But, again, my main complaint is that there HAS to be some way that society could better benefit from my imaginative and innovative pursuits. It’s literally a crying shame that all of my creative energy, which is mostly sapped by the end of the work day, can only come out in small spurts when I am able to muster JUST enough energy to do something that not only feeds myself and my soul – but would most likely feed others’ souls as well if I were afforded the opportunity to do so fulltime. But I guess our country isn’t really concerned about people’s souls anymore. (If it ever was?) Seems like money is the main driving force now. Money, and the machine that serves it -- if it isn’t the other way around? Maybe it’s both.

So there you have it, America. Would you rather have me pushing buttons for someone else, or have me feeding the soul of the country through creating art, music, poetry and prose? The time has come to make a decision.

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