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Compromises
May. 7th, 2020 09:06 pmWhen my son was on the way, I decided to stop studying and get a job. There are at least two debatable choices inherent in that.
First, should we have children? Though I didn't think about it this way at the time, there are about 8 billion of us. Without fertilizers, such as those we get from Haber process ammonia and natural gas, we'd never have made it to 8 billion. One estimate (graph on Wikipedia) suggests half of us wouldn't be here. Though maybe we'd not have grown too much beyond the 1.5 billion around before WWI.
Second, should I have jumped into paid work? My wife was working and wanted to stop. I was not ready to stay at home and raise a family. We figured we needed the money, We didn't figure too carefully. In fact, I do not remember much thinking involved in the decision. My enthusiasm lasted about 5 years. We're supposed to work about 40. 5/40 is not so much different from 1.5/8.
A friend said, "I work as little as possible, just enough to get by. So I can do what I love." The friend has an almost single-minded love of music.
I do love music, but I'm not as true as my friend. I also really like reading, learning, sometimes other things. Sometimes nothing.
Anchored deep in things I must have internalized a long time ago is the sense that if things are not right, I must do something about it. Sometimes, action is called for. But not always. When you're down a deepening hole, though, you might need to stop digging.
There's another deeply anchored misunderstanding about the impact I'm supposed to have. In my imagination, I'm supposed to do Great Things, or else I have failed. That's not natural, though. Nature does have things I'm supposed to do, like breathe, drink, and eat. They're not Great Things. At least, they're not exceptional. 8 billion other people are doing them, too.
It would be a good start to make better compromises, and probably just to do less.
First, should we have children? Though I didn't think about it this way at the time, there are about 8 billion of us. Without fertilizers, such as those we get from Haber process ammonia and natural gas, we'd never have made it to 8 billion. One estimate (graph on Wikipedia) suggests half of us wouldn't be here. Though maybe we'd not have grown too much beyond the 1.5 billion around before WWI.
Second, should I have jumped into paid work? My wife was working and wanted to stop. I was not ready to stay at home and raise a family. We figured we needed the money, We didn't figure too carefully. In fact, I do not remember much thinking involved in the decision. My enthusiasm lasted about 5 years. We're supposed to work about 40. 5/40 is not so much different from 1.5/8.
A friend said, "I work as little as possible, just enough to get by. So I can do what I love." The friend has an almost single-minded love of music.
I do love music, but I'm not as true as my friend. I also really like reading, learning, sometimes other things. Sometimes nothing.
Anchored deep in things I must have internalized a long time ago is the sense that if things are not right, I must do something about it. Sometimes, action is called for. But not always. When you're down a deepening hole, though, you might need to stop digging.
There's another deeply anchored misunderstanding about the impact I'm supposed to have. In my imagination, I'm supposed to do Great Things, or else I have failed. That's not natural, though. Nature does have things I'm supposed to do, like breathe, drink, and eat. They're not Great Things. At least, they're not exceptional. 8 billion other people are doing them, too.
It would be a good start to make better compromises, and probably just to do less.
