A Walk Down the Plain Path

I have known for years that I did not want to define my life through work. I watched my dad do this and all he got out of it was misery. I have watched many others do the same and I refuse to walk down this road. We are in a position to define our lives as we please. Not many people in the world can do this, have this opportunity, but here, in this country we do. We have upward, downward, and lateral mobility. More options and opportunities than ever before. No longer are we limited to what our father and his father did before him. We can determine our own future, our own lives.


In days of less mobility I believe people were more resigned to the fate that was handed them and instead of focusing on what they wanted to do with their life they focused on what they had in their lives. The family and friends that surrounded them, the pleasant little surprises each day brings. The little surprises that are mostly missed today by people who have forgotten the present. Instead they are focused on the elusive future bearing promises of promotions, a bigger house, and a new car. We are no longer slaves to work but are instead enslaved to the pursuit of the future and all the riches we’re sure it will hold.

I have yet to meet the man or woman that has ever become happy with the realization of these riches. The house, the car, the promotions attained only lead to more restlessness and bigger dreams, a more spectacular future desired that will surely bring happiness. And to those that don’t attain the riches dreamed of? Bitterness.

I have watched too many of my friends and family walk blindly down this road and I refuse to drink the Kool-Aid. I will walk down the plain path. It may not be glitzy and bestudded with jewels but there’s a clear running stream down this path and I shall drink my fill and nap by the babbling waters when I grow tired. And when I come to the end of the path I will be naked and exposed bearing nothing but fond memories of times passed.