Zihuatanejo

Never should you feel in the workplace like you are in a life and death struggle. Loathing the idea of coming to work is one thing, but fear? I mean, c'mon. The crap that Bear faces on Man vs. Wild should not be the ruler against which we have to measure our level of intensity against in the office. Office politics, deadlines, mandates... these are not equivalents to making one misstep and plunging to your doom. Over the past year or two I've developed a mentality that I'm not incredibly pleased with. The Us vs Them, Worker vs Management thought process has invaded. But it didn't get there on its own. It had help. Miserable, self-serving, self-important people and attitudes from the top, with statements like we're doing what's best for the organization not the employees and then turning around and following that up with bullshit speeches like "our people are our most valuable resource." You know what, gimme a fuckin' break. Advance your career on your own damn time... I've got work to do! This is NOT a life or death struggle or a fight or flight scenario. It's a job... it pays the bills. You show up you do it well, you go home and get back to LIFE. Work is NOT life! The accumulation of wealth and power should not be the ultimate objective of one's life!

Sorry there's just been that little rant boiling up inside me, now for a while. I just think there ought to be something else to shoot for. There was a a song by The Godfathers called "Birth, School, Work, Death" that I liked back in my post modern/alternative rock phase in college, (circa 1988,) that summed it all up a little like this:

Yeah I been high and I been low
And I don't know where to go
I'm living on the never never never
This time it's gonna be forever
I'll live and die don't ask me why
I wanna go to paradise
And I don't need your sympathy
There's nothing in this world for me
Birth, school, work, death
Birth, school, work, death

No, don't start emailing, calling and linking me to a damn suicide hotline, I'm a little more level-headed than that (most days.)


I guess this notion that I had about reading that Jimmy Buffett book "A Salty Piece of Land" and getting my "island chill" on, is having a bit of an effect. It's conjured up a lot of pleasing/relaxing imagery in contrast to the daily grind. I keep dreaming about the final scene from Shawshank Redemption in which Red finds his old friend Andy on a beach, Zihuatanejo on the coast of Mexico. The place looks peaceful. The kinda place where your hair will bleach white from the sun, and you'll turn the color of a Chicken McNugget. To quote another song, this time Big Red's leading man Kenny Chesney, "the sun and the sand and a drink in my hand, with no bottom..."

Is it too late to take up sailing... and switch to island time? In a bit of a mood...

Regards,

cheer_dad