Protect Your Joy!
While You Still Can
About three or four times a day, I am confronted by the fact that most of the people who read this have to immediately follow Scott Galloway’s lead and unsubscribe from almost everything or we are on a collision course with a future where most of us are all but enslaved by the wealthy overlords. I’m not kidding and at this point, I know at least some of you are listening when I say that.
Here is what I mean.
Today, I tried to book a plane ticket. The flight that I could afford was an “economy light” ticket. What that means is that I can not cancel or change the flight. Do you get the implications of that? It means that the less money you have, the less grace you are given if something happens in your life that prevents your travel. You are, quite simply, completely out of luck. Bye-bye cost of the flight. Your hard-earned dollars will be swallowed up as profit by a company focused, not on customer service, but on making millions of dollars for wealthy shareholders at the top.
The less money you have, the more likely you are to suffer to make some rich people richer. I know it’s not a popular thing to do but try to imagine being me for a second. If I lose that money, which is a relatively large portion of my discretionary budget, I will suffer.
I could spend some extra money and (if I could, I wouldn’t be buying the economy ticket but for the sake of argument) I could “protect” my flight with insurance. So, if I decide to spend the extra money for insurance, I just might have some protection. But, my mishap had better be on the approved event list. And these days, mishaps might include getting stopped at the border. They might include my renewal passport not being approved because I criticize certain people on social media. Those events are definitely not getting covered by insurance.
Check this out: The less money you have, the more likely you are to criticize those who are running this show. The more likely you are to criticize those in power, the less protection you have. Because who is in the business of protecting the vulnerable here anyway?
The cruel reality is that practically no one is in the business of protecting the vulnerable these days. It’s true. The Consumer Protection Bureau is all but gutted. The Department of Justice is an arm of an autocrat. The Supreme Court is under his thumb. Any of you who have been waiting and saying I’ll get involved when it gets really bad are officially full of it. It’s that bad. And if you’re not involved at this point, you might be stunned and frozen (in which case please breathe and join the party - we’re fighting for our futures) or you’re hoping that you’ll just skate by with your vacations intact.
If you are skating by, you are doing so on the backs of some children, some women, some people who are absolutely vulnerable. But I don’t know who I feel sadder for. Them or you. Because to stay in the mindset of doing nothing, you have to avoid the very emotions that make you human. We can not shut down some emotions and keep others. So in order to stay out of the fray you risk never feeling true joy.
I want joy for everyone. I don’t care how much money you have. I even want joy for Elon Musk, despite the amount of selfishness and reckless irresponsibility he has practiced. But I know that he can not buy joy. And neither can you.
Look, I know things aren’t easy for you either. This system doesn’t have your interests at heart. Because it doesn’t have a heart. It is designed to make money for the few at the expense of the many. And it’s already coming for you through the stress. How do I know? Because I can predict with some degree of certainty that you are working too hard. Or that you find your work soul-sucking. That’s because most people feel that way.
Stand back and look at the economy. The public sector has been decimated, so purpose-driven work is hard to come by. The only people making money are making it off the backs of someone else. Small businesses that are getting crushed by larger ones. Patients who are getting sub-par care to increase profit margins. Clients who can’t afford the retainer to sue an unjust boss. Give it a few years, and if capitalism continues trying to expand with no heart in it, unless I’m busy working myself to a misery, I won’t be able to afford that plane ticket at all. And you might.
But will you enjoy the vacation?
God willing, I’m going to go on this trip. And I really hope it’s not the last one I ever take. But if it is, please know this. While I will probably pity you if it gets worse and you were busy fretting while the rest of us fought, I won’t blame you for what you wouldn’t take action on. Because I know that facing fear is the hardest thing we do. No shame - we’re all afraid. And if you are anything like me you are afraid because they want you to think you have no power. They want you to think this is the only way to make money. But come on - things used to be better. People used to get pensions and not answer emails in the middle of the night. They used to give good care and have room for pro-bono work. So wake up with me - this capitalism run amok BS is simply not true.
Here is the deal though: If I can do anything to help you to get unstuck, if I can help you do one thing to join this movement for humanity’s future, please message me on linked in. I will do what I can. I’ll help you find the best way for you to use your singular magic. I want you to know that you tried to make a world that’s good for living things.
Because if we’re not here for each other, what are we here for?