Struggle

Before I begin let me say that by trade I am a technologist. I program computers for a living. It's something I began doing long before I knew that anyone would ever pay me for it and I continue to love it until this day.

That said, I think that there is something seriously twisted with our society and what we call progress. Progress is almost always associated with clever inventions and productivity increases. It's kind of like those TV commercials that proclaim if only you had this type of soap or that kind of gadget that our lives would be finally complete. In a way we all know that it's a scam and yet in a broader sense we've all bought into this line of thinking.

I believe that we were made to struggle and that that struggle is an inseparable part of our existance. I believe that we without challenges of all types, we cease to grow and in a very real way we start to die. We must labor in spirit and mind and body. Yes... and to some extent we must even suffer inconvenience and discomfort, but rather than these being negative things they are a part of what makes life beautiful and full. Although I'd never walk knowlingly head first into a door, I believe that we have gone way too far in our pursuit to eradicate even the slightest bit of discomfort from our lives.

Somehow we've come to believe that the ultimate goal of progress is to... to... well to not do anything. We attempt to invent and then purchase these things to do everything for us. The sad reality is that we have become indentured to the maintenance and care of the very things that we thought would free us in the first place. But free us from what? Life?

Life is about living and loving and sharing of one's self. Life is to be experienced. Rather than becoming hermetically sealed perhaps we should be playing in the dirt just a little more.

So what is real progress? Real progress is using the vast creativity of the human spirit to alleviate true suffering such as hunger and disease. True progress is to prevent murder and rape and to provide an opportunities for happiness to all. And in these ways our progress as a species has been spotty at best.

But until we achieve true progress, I'll keep my day job of programming computers so that they can make us a cup of coffee without us having to lift a single finger.