Website owner:  James Miller

Life, facts and reality

   I sit in my car in a shopping center parking lot reflecting.  I 
   see hundreds of cars and dozens of people scurrying around.  I 
   think to myself "I see society.  It is hundreds of people 
   scurrying around, each looking after his own affairs.  Each 
   person is free to do whatever he wants within certain 
   constraints placed upon him by the society.  The society sets 
   up rules, which are usually fair and usually have good reasons 
   underlying them, and a person is free to do whatever he wishes 
   within the confines of these rules.  It all sounds very good.  
   So what is the problem?  Where do the problems and injustices 
   of life come from?  Well, they all start from some very basic 
   and universal facts.  To name them: 


   Fact Number 1.  Every man requires certain basic necessities in 
     order to live --- namely food, shelter and clothing. 

   Fact Number 2.  In order to obtain the basic necessities of 
     food, shelter and clothing one has to have a certain amount 
     of money coming in.  Even if a person has his own house and 
     has his own garden and rises the most of his own food he must 
     still have a certain amount of money coming in to pay for 
     things like taxes, sugar, salt, etc..  The necessity of 
     having a certain cash inflow is a fact of life that he just 
     can't escape. 

   Fact Number 3.  In order to get an inflow of money most people 
     must "go to the system", find a job, work for somebody.  It 
     is true that some people manage to set up businesses for 
     themselves and be their own bosses.  But it requires 
     ingenuity, involves a good deal of risk, often requires 
     capital (money) to start, and is by no means easy. 

   Fact Number 4.  Jobs are generally scarce and hard to find.  
     The realities are that most people find that jobs for which 
     they are qualified are difficult to find.  The task of 
     finding a job is usually accompanied by frustration and 
     discouragement.  The prospect of finding oneself without a 
     job is a very scary one for most people.  

   Fact Number 5.  Most jobs are abusive.  Most people suffer 
     abuse in their jobs.  Overbearing, demanding bosses abuse 
     them, make unreasonable demands from them, have unreasonable 
     expectations in regard to them.  Yet most people just hang on 
     and suffer and endure because they know how hard jobs are to 
     find, how small is the chance of finding a good satisfying 
     job where there is no abuse, and they know that they have to 
     have money coming in.  Thus everyone finds himself caught in 
     a trap --- a trap made by these facts, these realities of 
     life.  Everyone is a captive --- a captive to abuse and 
     brutality and misery.  That is why bosses can get away with 
     so much --- why they can intimidate and abuse and why those 
     under them will grovel, lie, cheat, steal, do anything at 
     their bidding. 


     Mar 1985