Wednesday, February 08, 2006

The catharsis of a 3 chord rock song during your commute

ca·thar·sis
n. pl. ca·thar·ses (-sz)
A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as an effect of tragic drama on its audience.

You know those days when you wonder what in the world it is that you are doing toiling for the man?
Dumb question.
Sometimes, it does help to have a song turned up to 11 to make one feel just a little bit better.

Everyone is so full of shit
Born and raised by hypocrites
Hearts recycled but never saved
From the cradle to the grave
We are the kids of war and peace
From Anaheim to the middle east
We are the stories and disciples
Of the Jesus of suburbia
(BTW, new-vo and oldster punks that don't like my choice of lyrics, eat me. Oldsters, get over it; new-vo, you weren't even born yet by the time half the bands broke up, so screw you)

Am I the only person out there hearing the stories and listening to the gripes that when you boil it down, every company seems to be run by people that are basically just in it to launder money to themselves and whomever else is on the "inside"?
I mean, I know that Gordon Gekko said "greed is good" 20 years ago, but still.

I've been in the workforce now for over 20 years, working all this time at larger companies for the most part, but things seem to have changed.

I guess what makes some of us crazy in that we get into whatever it is that we are into because it's something we LIKE and we do well and WANT to do well.
When the day came that I figured I had enough stacking produce after a long time, I looked to something that I loved (technology, but not as much as you, you see) and made it work.
Let me tell you. Wait, I probably don't have to tell you, that ain't easy. But it sure can be fun.
There's a lot of us out there. Those that took the time to seek out that which we enjoy and earn a living at it. And earn a living being GOOD at it.

The problem.
Well, it hurts some a little bit worse than the drones and such, when you feel the crush of the gears of the grinding corporate machine, when all it is you want to do is.. well. For yourself, for your "customer", for your family.
I have a friend that sat through a large "all hands" meeting wherein the particular company officer running said meeting was asked after all the changes, after the uncertainty, the cuts in benefits, raises and possible outsourcing (in a division that is doing WELL), "..why should people stay here?"
The answer? "Not everything is about money and people should want to work for such a world class company, blah, blah blah." Excuse me? People want to work someplace where they are treated well and paid well, not based on the placement on the Fortune list.
That's a bullshit answer to have to take from someone speaking to groups of people that have put in lots of time, energy and pieces of themselves to make something work so well, just to see it all treated like it was nothing. And see it work like shit, now..

So in the car, on the way home from work, you can find just a little bit of relief while smoking alone and listening to some loud music.

There's no stoppin' the cretins from hoppin'
You gotta keep it beatin'
For all the hoppin' cretins
Cretin! Cretin!

Some days I think I would like to cash it all in and move to Medoncino, raise goats and make cheese...