The Devil's Guide To Ethics

Life Masons

My greatest desire in life has nothing to do with a career. I want to be skilled in every major societal role that i can before i die without the schooling. In the early parts of this society, people could legitimately explore and do what they wanted to do with their lives. They could just grow and learn because everything was developing and that's what was needed. People didn't work themselves to death... they learned and brought those skills to lead independent and fulfilling lives. They didn't have to choose what they wanted to be when they grew up... they could just wake up and say... maybe I'm gonna learn nuclear physics today. The schooling system would support that. Certifications weren't so anal and didn't set standards that cater to incompitence. If people lacked the sense to do simple tasks... they simply weren't trusted to do more complex ones until they took the time to learn from their mistakes. This day and age focuses so much on developing through practical knowledge rather than applied knowledge and experience. Yes... its necessary but extremely overdone and not conducted in tandem where it's most effective with growth and knowledge. Then you have uncertified people who have learned from failures and you have booksmart people who have lacked a major practical experience... so when it comes to the actual thing they went to college for... they come outta school looking like a f*****g i***t when it comes to actually doing what they spent years learning about. That line between what constitutes a professional and an average joe becomes a huge debate when the results show themselves every day. You have all these people going to college for years because they ache to really learn their respective trades... if you're in business or mental health than maybe itll be worth your time. Science is an effective program because they have to mix applied and theoretical. But honestly trade school has become a f*****g joke. I can work under a tradesman and be compitent in that field within a couple years provided that im given the trust to actually be able to pursue and progress in the field. Then you have these people who go to school for these trades and come out thinking they know better when all they really did was read books and watch others do the work while they analyzed it. But even looking at business and mental health fields... with business there's a plethora of people starting businesses without a degree. Some people just want that safety of having guidance which is completely fair. As for mental health and psychology... you can learn by making friends and getting to know them on deeper levels. Being there through thick and thin but also just thinking deeper about what's behind it. Go through therapy and apply what helped you to the world around you and see how it fits. All these people in these professions with a college education, they went for 2 things... security and a guarantee that they could get into a field they want to be in. Nothing stops anyone from learning on their own. Yes... by law i will have to have disclaimers that I'm not certified in the knowledge i explore or do... i don't care. I'm not looking for a career out of these things. I want to apply them to my life and have the security of knowing that I'm pulling from knowledge thats safe and credible. I want to have food that i know isn't f****d with, i want to make medicines that don't have extra bullshit in it, i want to build a community with little hindrance from government policies... just buy one giant plot of land with a group of people where we all pay 1 single property tax. Build houses on a dirt road... help each other with the permits. Learn trades, skills, and self sufficiency together. Create a small community that people teach each other and theres no limits to leading a knowledgeable and full life. Just a self sufficient community. Where the income is developed through exporting credible products unprocessed through chemicals that have addictive properties and shorten peoples life. Look at each generation before us dying earlier and earlier... is this what we really want for ourselves? People from the 20s survived 80-100 years and that metric has set a standard but now people are having midlife crisis at the age of 25. Cause starting with the 70s... people started dying younger and younger of "old age". Natural death is slowly becoming less natural but few are reflecting on what we're consuming. Guess what... the lower income families have to eat the garbage because its all they can afford. The people clinging to what little they own have to watch the higher class consume organic foods on a regular basis while they're making the financial choice to consume garbage so they can make their rent. Then you have the lower class trying to invest in their health but they struggle with making a living because they aren't making the cuts in all the areas they could be to survive. Even these "healthy" products that cost more lack a convenience. People short on time and living in low income neighborhoods only get conveniences of drive thru fast food. If you look at the difference between targeted business... the hood is filled with McDonald's and burger King, jack in the box, taco bell, wendys... its so easy... then eating out anywhere you get charged significantly less to drink something that will kill you (soda) vs something healthy which has no free refills. And you get a glass of water... if you're in the hood its not drinkable cause its tap water. You want any good water you gotta pay for it. But higher income neighborhoods get more healthy foods and places. They get the quirky food places that focus on healthy foods. These hole in the wall places that pop up and do that are in better neighborhoods. Because there's this stigma that in the hood people get robbed and shot... look at things realistically though... society isn't cash and carry anymore. If you're desperate and starving on the street... anyone around you that's remotely street smart will only carry plastic. If they get robbed than they can just turn off their card. Its just not worth it. They can try to rob businesses but even criminals who are desperate have to consider the price of being caught. Registers have a security system especially in the hood. Most of these places drop all their significant bills in a safe with an outsourced combination to a bank. There's only maybe 1-200 bucks in a register at a time. Its not worth it. Crime isn't worth the price anymore. Most crime has become from issues with mental health. What other crime there is has to be creative. There's very few legal ways to make adequate money fast. I can think of a few myself but that's because I've seen some creative solutions. But usually with friends i list these options and people dont really earnestly explore it. Doordash is legally the legal counterpart to robbing a 711. You'll make garbage money, you'll get 1099, and you're at the mercy of people who either can't afford to tip or won't tip. Yes... can't afford to tip is a thing. But its never brought to light because people who don't tip are assholes right? "Can't tip" is just a hat tip "im just as broke as you friend". Wont tip is clearly in body language. Who advocates for the people who aren't making it? The people working themselves to death just to make it... these higher class people get time to advocate for social and political issues... they get time to go on full on vacations whenever they want. Lower class has to sacrifice for that time. I simply have the luck of being able to take pto to do these things. Working a 4-10 schedule but i pay in my own way. My health is taking a tank for it. Like i said... fast food is convenient. I cook when i have time and I'm a damn good cook but that is something that i need the adequate energy to do... coming home from a long and physically strenuous shift... last thing i wanna do is take time and energy cooking a full a*s meal. So i either cook a half assed meal or go out. I have friends who work longer and more strenuous hours but their price is that they don't have time to really live a fulfilling life. They're barely cramming self care into their free time. Throw in responsibilities and getting a break seems hopeless. We all dream and try to conceive of a path that will pull us out of these places that make us feel trapped. Looking at this negative feedback loop we're in, our ambitions to learn and grow... be our full selves require time and money that are either currently invested in responsibility, self care, or getting a breather so you don't burn out. Mental health is an epidemic because so many people are left to drown expecting to do more with less. Of course they're gonna be anxious, depressed, or have full on mental breakdowns. If you're trapped in something that stresses you out and you're asking what the point of where you're going is... having issues with mental health is completely rational. These aren't mental health conditions in principle but it's all a systematic psychological disorder forced upon everyone. We lose our sense of self because we fall into being slaves to cooperations and watch our livelihood pour right back in without becoming who we want to be or seeing results of anything we really want to be paying for. We're all trapped but we don't have the will to change because we're so beaten down on our self worth that we feel we can't make a difference. Everyone is now unworthy, depressed, anxious, has contemplated suicide, has started with basic mental health issues that spiraled into more creative disorders through time... we're all insane in our own way. We're ultimately insane because we want to change the world but refuse to change ourselves. The world... will always follow the example of what's possible. The world will follow your footsteps if you walk. Lead the life... be an example. Carry that on as a culture. Fight against the grain and question everything. Have the boundaries to let in what you know is safe but to recognize what isn't. But also to have a healthy enough relationship with adversity to not try to steralize yourself from what the real world is. I've shared my dreams with you. I've shared my life with you in this conversation. I've shared my perspective and i don't expect you to take every word but i also hope you don't cast out a full book because you disagree with one statement. Because for us to distance ourselves from what challenges our values and beliefs is just a testament that we find shelter in ignorance and bigotry. We shouldn't live in adversity or comfort in any totality. We should find comfort between the extremes. We should run and rest and our pace. Stay and appreciate comfort and what is but also to keep moving and facing obstacles. Developing our mental health and resilience is a foundational part to our dreams. The world is a dark place but also a beautiful place. We exist in that dichotomy that we cannot escape. Its up to us as individuals to take our lives in our own hands. To pave a path for us and others to walk brick by brick. This road is a gift that we should not seek payment for. The people who will understand will become life masons themselves. To build roads, homes, stores, community, and most importantly... ourselves and each other. Every day we act, we build these faculties within ourselves. Every day we act, we build that future with our hands. That future where people come together and love one another. We can listen to imagine by the Beatles and actually see it in the lives we live. We can shout to the skies with tears in our eyes and say that we don't have to imagine anymore.