Having a reasonable amount of money at one's disposal is
a practical necessity for having a good life. But is having a job too?
Many individuals do not need to have a job for money;
either their spouses earn enough, or they are retired with enough money, or they
are part of a well-to-do family. Somehow the modern ethos equates working for
money to leading a useful life. This is characterized by questions like:
"What is the use of your education if you are not earning money?". Or
by "Why are you just sitting at home? Get a job!". Or by "What
is the use of this degree? It doesn't get you a job."
In most cases, education is like an insurance against
joblessness; since one cant predict the future, one takes an education that can
reasonably guarantee sustenance for life. Thus, one chooses an education based
on it's "relevance" in the job market of the day. But, after growing
up it's possible that one might find oneself in a position where doing a job is
not necessary.
Yes, a job is one of the most stable ways of earning
money. And it can be fulfilling and one can make the world a better place by
our job. And in most cases, it's just a glaring necessity. But it's not that
people who have a job are more useful or better than those who don't. There is
no connection, Those who choose to be jobless can lead very fulfilling lives
too, and people with jobs can be the most miserable. In fact, without the
rigmarole of a job, people have the opportunity to add tremendous value to the
world. They can choose to spend their time on things that are close to their
heart; they can lead a more independent life.
Obviously, this is not to advocate joblessness. But we
must set right the mentality that one who is jobless is just "sitting at
home" leading a "useless life" "wasting one's education".
This attitude is very insensitive towards those who feel the pressure of
society for being jobless, and sounds very foolish to the wise who can see
through the artificial importance given to "having a job".
I know many highly educated individuals who have given up
their jobs for a higher calling of service to humanity. At another level I have
seen highly educated individuals make family and raising children their
priority. I have seen them accepting a less glamorous job to facilitate their
other priorities in life. I have even seen people, men and women, who are clear
that they definitely don't want to spend their life doing a job - even if they
are not sure what else they will do for their sustenance. Many of these people
do a job as a necessity, not by choice.
People do have different priorities in life; the society
must learn to respect individual preferences and appreciate the courage of
those who choose to go against the popular current in order to lead a more
joyful, purposeful, meaningful, relaxed, simple, responsible, principled,
valuable, holistic life.
Would you ever have the courage to be jobless by choice?
