Not My Ideal

Living in one of the largest economies in the world has its privileges which can be detrimental to anybody’s personal ethic.  People are starving in the world, and my work, done for a decent wage, supports a political structure which exploits this suffering.  How do I know where to draw the line?  How much am I willing to play a role in the economic system which benefits me at the expense of others?  Unfortunately, I feel I play a role in this twisted culture of exploitation more than is necessary.  But I’m not exactly an idealist—I’m a dreamer—and I’m a charitable person—but I’m not exactly an idealist.

My philosophy, regarding my source of income, is that I should not work in a position which directly exploits others.  Currently, I’m employed at a temp agency and for a while I was working in a warehouse that made home décor.  Most of the product at that warehouse was made in China or India on slave labor.  I needed the work, however.  And so I did what I had to to get by compromising my personal ethic.

However, in another circumstance this same compromise is set in a different light.  People, in the same building as where I work, are being exploited.  I’m still at the temp agency, but they have me placed at a psychiatric hospital, now.  I am, however, only working as a maintenance person.  At this hospital, people are being held against their will, even though they cannot be considered culpable for any crime.  And people are being forced medication, which I oppose.  Working for such an institution is a compromise which I make to keep my head above water.

What I will not do is participate in work where I am, myself, expected to force medication on another person.  And I’m not willing to hold a salaried position, for long-term employment, at a company which runs off slave labor.  Still, I cut corners regarding my personal ethic on a daily basis; as much as I’m not an idealist, I’m not a saint either.  I’m just an honest, hard working, young, American, trying to make a living.  Good working class people are integral to the anarchist ideologies which I attempt to cultivate into my social consciousness; sacrifices I make for the ethic resulting of my ideologies are more numerous than the corners I cut.

Each day I work towards a deeper and more profound way to live my life.  That requires that I not settle for too many compromises in my ideology.  I try not to reside in a comfortable place of feeling that going day to day is good enough—because it isn’t.