Casey Gilfillan

“‘In the long run, he’s committing suicide,’ said the driver. ‘Seems the only kind of job an American can get these days is committing suicide in some way.” – Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

You might be like me if you hold the opinion that there is no objective purpose in life. There are things you can do to give your life a sense of purpose and meaningfulness, but there is no tangible purpose accessed through specific successes, though most of us seem to covet this.

Many fall for the illusion, or better yet the ploy, that purpose is found and only truly derived from the fruits of intensive, life-long labor without relent. Capitalists want you to think this, that your self-worth is intrinsically linked to the tangible reward of productivity. You are only as good as the amount of hours you work in a week, you are only redeemable if you’ve never called out sick (even when sick). You need a part-time job, commonly referred to as a ‘side hustle,’ for additional income and should be profit-maxing any hobbies you have; if not you are behind the curve, or something worse. Everything you do should be a concerted effort to make money, learning how to further commodify every last second in your fleeting possession, down to the intimate commodification of the self. “How many ways can you sell yourself?” seems to be the question of our generation.

That is what capitalism wants of you, this conflation of identity and labor with the simultaneous de-personalization of labor. They want obedient wage slaves who clock in and do not balk at the notion of sacrificing themselves for the success of the company, while in an agreement in which they receive a heavy taxed and rather small percentage of the profits. They want you to keep your head down and suffer on your own time. It’s your problem if your main job doesn’t earn you a livable wage, and it’s your fault if adding a second or third gig doesn’t get you there either. The onus is placed upon the individual actors – us proletarian who feebly beg for entry into the elitist exchange of commerce – in an economy that is highly dependent on massive corporations, wealth, and connections. It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t make sense, you should feel bad for these things you can’t control.

And that’s just it – they want your sense of pride and shame tied to your work so they can manipulate you into offering more than your fair share of labor. Though the amount that they compensate you is not a fair share to begin with, they will tell you the reason you have no savings or financial mobility is not because the system favors the few, but because you aren’t working hard enough. Some self-identifying alpha-bro will repeat the same obnoxious sentiment on a podcast, with a tone that shames and dehumanizes those who do not subscribe to the mentality of ‘grinding’ your life away for an hourly wage that will never bring comfort, security, or peace of mind.

Even if you disagree about our lack of assigned purpose, perhaps we might agree that the purpose cannot be found at the end of an overtime shift, overworked job, or dead-end opportunity. Make your money, but keep your head on about it – I feel confident in saying that we are not here to fulfill man’s artificial purpose of creating and collecting wealth. Make your purpose elsewhere, let a job be a job.