Bootstraps. A rambling Essay.

Work hard, and you too can be rich!

I am one of those throwbacks from a generation that still has an underlying sense of responsibility and dedication to the task at hand. We Gen-Xers have always taken a bad rap for being overeducated slackers, with no ambition and working jobs that are beneath us.

I say, all work is beneath us.

Selling the concept of getting people to work hard for no reason was one of the more devious ideas the proletariat has ever been sold. Like this sort of neo Calvinism or the fiction that hard work was somehow interrelated with gaining entry into Heaven. (Man, Believers are so easy to manipulate.)

Morality is a construct and means nothing to those in power. I would argue that one cannot be moral and powerful at the same time.

Getting back to the “hard work” idea…There are many good reasons to work hard. But none of them should have anything to do with the glory or the betterment of the organization.

Work hard for your family. Work hard because the job requires you to work hard. Work hard because you love or believe in what you do. Work hard because you own the business and want to see it succeed. Work hard if working hard will earn you more money (i.e., selling things on commission.) But don’t work hard because you somehow believe you owe anybody anything. You are not being lazy if you are doing no more than what your job requires. You are being smart.

Allowing people to let us believe that we are lazy is the way that we are manipulated and led to believe that the idle man is not deserving of anything. Well, sure, when you put it like that. I just happen to believe that nothing that I’ve ever done has put me closer to the Promised Land. Trust me. I’ve lived my life and I’ve worked more than 80 percent of it. I’m comfortable (finally) but I’ll never be rich. I think I’m done thinking that I want to kill myself to make a buck.

A fiction sold to us working people is one where we are told to work hard and we too can be rich! I have been working hard for 30 years. I am not rich. I never will be. I didn’t start off rich. I don’t have any rich relatives. I probably won’t start a business or learn a sport that enriches me. My best shot might be to break into the entertainment business. I can hope. But let’s be realistic: I’m not that good at anything. I oppose those who subscribe to the bootstrap fantasy, that pulling yourself up and “making it” is all you, and not “making it” is your fault, and has nothing to do with poor circumstance, bad luck, or a game that is stacked against you.

I oppose this whole fallacy and anyone who subscribes to it.

Subscribe to my fallacy, instead!