I read Terri's post with great interest. I agree that the drive to earn
is a bigger question than just the matter of getting money.
Another piece to the discussiion about "why wealth" includes the
following:
I think Wealth=Freedom.
Having experienced severe financial crisis in my youth, I felt very
strongly the lack of freedom resulting from lack of cash. I couldn't DO
the things I needed to do, to be active socially (I once told someone, I
can't afford girlfriends, I have to maintian my (klunker) car), I
couldn't pay tuitions or sports club fees (like little league, etc), I
couldn't get tools to do much.
Not having money is equated (maybe subconsiously) with the idea that "you
must be bad, or lazy or wasteful or something". So now not only are you
not free to DO, but you are bad as well. Not much respect is given to the
working poor because even though they may work hard, they must be "bad" in
some way or they wouldn't be poor.. (obviously not true-but olde mental
models like this are hard to break and tend to feed on themselves
creating barriers that make getting out of the situation harder than it
needs to be).
One reason I draw is because in 1975 I could get a Bic pen (19 cents at the
time) and a pack of typing paper for a buck. I could create anything I could
imagine on the page-so I had a pseudo freedom... At least I was free to think.
Freedom or self actualization or whatever you want to call it is a prime
driver in the human. It's been surprising to me to discover how the
attachment of a monetary price to things in American society hinders our
freedoms. Some people end up living on the street because they fell on
hard times and couldn't pay the taxed on property they OWNED, and were
evicted. (suggesting that our idea of ownership is a myth). Even the
freedom to occupy the space they had struggled to own is denied without a
payoff to some government entity. (not talking about maintenence of
buildings here either-which is an associated issue). (property tax is a
"soap box" issue with me...)
For many of us, our organizational alliances come from our attempts to
find a place to be where we can gain the maximum flexibilities and
freedoms. Freedom to explore is high on my list. I would whither and
die on a production line scrambling to meet time committments, without a
means of learning. Yet I visit my companies production lines as often as
possible becausse I find them to be a source of inspiration for the work
I do.
I can't imagine Not working-even if I was free not to work. Working is
part of living for me. It makes me feel that I'm "paying my way" not
just consuming recklessly.
So here's another point of view that could add something to the fire-eh?
later...
Michael Erickson
sysengr2atc.boeing.com
[Terri's message removed by temporary host Johanna, jr@world.std.com]
--Michael Erickson <sysengr@atc.boeing.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>