I guess I’ll never be effective like a big shot
I’ll never get the money that they’ve got
But I’ll be smiling much longer— The Wildhearts
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
“This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.”
Vindication! You should have already been listening to me as I preached against the tyranny of work, of course, but there you have it from an unimpeachable source: those who are face to face with The Big Picture. Give a hearty fuck-you to John Calvin and the Protestant work ethic. Forget all that nonsense you heard about a “calling”, and give up on the delusion that you’re only going to work like mad for just as long as it takes to “get ahead”, because that will never happen, and your health will give out first. If you’re in that tiny fraction of people fortunate enough to turn a hobby into paid employment, more power to you; but otherwise, work at something tolerable that allows you enough time and money to do what you actually enjoy with people you voluntarily choose to be around.