People like me must see life as a struggle, a fight to prosper if not survive. This is so because we are predisposed to not participate in the system at all.
The rewards of individual thought are much more valuable to us. But they typically don't put food on the table, much less the table in the house.
So we're left to motivate ourselves by fooling one another into thinking this is a competition. If we're all busy climbing over each other trying to prove our worth through accumulation, we never stop to figure out what we truly desire.
Nine times out of 10, we want time. Time to be with our loved ones. Time to pursue the activities that make us smile. Time to just simply be.
The folks who rule this world have this commodity in spades. This isn't to say the rulers themselves are out passing the time on a beach in the sun. They're too driven for that. But their families are, and I can't think of a better gift to them.
So why aren't the rest of us worthy of this same leisure? Who decided we should build up a society in which we must work tirelessly to make often-needless things that we must then purchase to support the efforts of ourselves and our brethren?
I vote we all take a couple of months off. Not at the same time mind you, but off nonetheless. We can rotate through the fields to ensure we've got adequate coverage of doctors and electricians and garbage men, and all others of critical importance (even if their salaries don't reflect it).
The point is, we perpetuate this cycle. Admittedly, we as individuals have little say in it. But the recent recession has proven the world will not collapse if we don't continue to produce at a rabbit's pace.
If we can determine a method for sustaining our economy while slowing consumption and production equally, we will all be richer. Imagine a four-day work week. Can you? Good, now try three.
It isn't that the resources (i.e. money) don't exist to make this possible. It is just a matter of increasing mean salaries to the point where working incessantly is completely optional. Insurance coverage can exist for those who work less than 40 hours. The peeps who still want to work themselves to death may still do so and be justly rewarded for it.
Why should a select few in this world know what a sabbatical means? Why must every adult face constant work until an age too old to enjoy some of life's finest offerings or be condemned to financial and social ruin?
We don't.