What is more valuable? Money or Time?
Or put another way, How Much is Your Time Worth? How much would a billionaire stricken with cancer give to live another year? Another month? Another day? Would the billionaire trade all his "wealth" for one more minute of life?
It seems apparent that our brief flickers of Time we mortal human beings have on this Earth is in Reality Beyond Any Conventional Monetary Value (Coming from Any Construct We Have Built, Economic or Otherwise...)
Much of my novel, "The STARLING Connection," deals with the question of Who Are We Truly Working For? Are we working for ourselves/our families, or are most of us stuck working forever for someone else in a "house" more resembling a prison with no windows or doors? What have we actually built here in 2015 in the U.S. and globally?
In the context of a recent political discussion regarding how long Americans work, astute observers have noted that it's not actually how long Americans work that is the issue, but the issue is that most of the productivity gains are going directly to a very few at the very top. This means a broken / non-existent relationship between the productivity gains generated by the majority of working Americans' and the real value of the take home pay these workers receive for their work. What will be the end result of this situation?
I worked A LOT from the age of 18, all throughout my 20s. From journalism to military, most was NOT your routine "9-5." Toward the end of my 20s, I realized that despite all my work & "busy-ness," I hadn't actually realized "The Pursuit of Happiness." Was this 100 percent my own fault? Perhaps. Or had I been doing "of my own free will" what the ignorant game designers programmed "America" to be in the 1990s-2000s?
(That being said, I am happy to report the experiences, the people I've known and what little bit I've learned from all this has given me much more happiness than whatever money I made... I particularly thank all the folks who maintained their sense of humor during our most difficult times. I think it's you friends who could still smile who taught me the most, as far as what the "Pursuit of Happyness" truly is...)
I hear in Western culture we focus everything on the individual, yet it seems that nearly anyone who has successfully quit smoking could likely attest the extremely powerful role of environment (i.e., you can increase your chances of quitting smoking by also cutting WAY back on alcohol & avoiding bars & smoking situations...)
What are the addictions clouding our collective consciousness, feeding today's "system" which is making more Americans poorer? Is it truly "good for the world" to have more poor Americans, as today's mainstream "leaders" seem to claim? Yet we see time and again NONE of the "free" trade "agreements" are actually "agreements" of the People of nations, nor "free."
Is the "Pursuit of Happiness" just a myth for most working Americans?
In "The STARLING Connection," I explore the questions: What precisely are the myths? And what is Real?
I don't think I'm alone in this realization, as I believe millions of Americans who have been spinning their wheels all their lives are beginning to ask more questions about what is actually happening globally? Why exactly are most Americans working ever harder for ever less of real value? For most working folks, isn't it actually "The Hamster Wheel States of America?" all hidden behind false notions regarding the nature of trade, "globalization," technology, debt-"banking," etc.? What is propping up this "system"?
Spiritually speaking, I began to think about what it means to be "busy" and how valuable is it to be "busy"? So busy many of us are, we are lucky if we wake up in time to realize our lives are over. But being exposed to life or death situations relatively early in my life taught me how fleeting & precious our lives really are.
In the current "system," at the end of the day, who precisely are we running around 24-7 & being so busy for? Are we truly being so busy for ourselves & our families?
Yet it seems much suffering occurs when parents are too busy for their children...
Or is someone else in this purported "system" taking far, far, FAR too much? Who is in control? Who is siphoning all the value and at what cost? Are our too-busy lives distracting us from what we should be focusing on and fighting for?
I have grave concerns about how ever-more powerful technologies enabling those becoming ever-more powerful at the top will further enhance the power of today's "system" over humanity as a whole.
I continue to consider the question of "Are we too busy?"
Without further adieu, here is our friend Simon Laramie, the 15-year-old narrator of "The STARLING Connection," describing the world of 2045:
Or put another way, How Much is Your Time Worth? How much would a billionaire stricken with cancer give to live another year? Another month? Another day? Would the billionaire trade all his "wealth" for one more minute of life?
It seems apparent that our brief flickers of Time we mortal human beings have on this Earth is in Reality Beyond Any Conventional Monetary Value (Coming from Any Construct We Have Built, Economic or Otherwise...)
Much of my novel, "The STARLING Connection," deals with the question of Who Are We Truly Working For? Are we working for ourselves/our families, or are most of us stuck working forever for someone else in a "house" more resembling a prison with no windows or doors? What have we actually built here in 2015 in the U.S. and globally?
In the context of a recent political discussion regarding how long Americans work, astute observers have noted that it's not actually how long Americans work that is the issue, but the issue is that most of the productivity gains are going directly to a very few at the very top. This means a broken / non-existent relationship between the productivity gains generated by the majority of working Americans' and the real value of the take home pay these workers receive for their work. What will be the end result of this situation?
I worked A LOT from the age of 18, all throughout my 20s. From journalism to military, most was NOT your routine "9-5." Toward the end of my 20s, I realized that despite all my work & "busy-ness," I hadn't actually realized "The Pursuit of Happiness." Was this 100 percent my own fault? Perhaps. Or had I been doing "of my own free will" what the ignorant game designers programmed "America" to be in the 1990s-2000s?
(That being said, I am happy to report the experiences, the people I've known and what little bit I've learned from all this has given me much more happiness than whatever money I made... I particularly thank all the folks who maintained their sense of humor during our most difficult times. I think it's you friends who could still smile who taught me the most, as far as what the "Pursuit of Happyness" truly is...)
I hear in Western culture we focus everything on the individual, yet it seems that nearly anyone who has successfully quit smoking could likely attest the extremely powerful role of environment (i.e., you can increase your chances of quitting smoking by also cutting WAY back on alcohol & avoiding bars & smoking situations...)
What are the addictions clouding our collective consciousness, feeding today's "system" which is making more Americans poorer? Is it truly "good for the world" to have more poor Americans, as today's mainstream "leaders" seem to claim? Yet we see time and again NONE of the "free" trade "agreements" are actually "agreements" of the People of nations, nor "free."
Is the "Pursuit of Happiness" just a myth for most working Americans?
In "The STARLING Connection," I explore the questions: What precisely are the myths? And what is Real?
I don't think I'm alone in this realization, as I believe millions of Americans who have been spinning their wheels all their lives are beginning to ask more questions about what is actually happening globally? Why exactly are most Americans working ever harder for ever less of real value? For most working folks, isn't it actually "The Hamster Wheel States of America?" all hidden behind false notions regarding the nature of trade, "globalization," technology, debt-"banking," etc.? What is propping up this "system"?
Spiritually speaking, I began to think about what it means to be "busy" and how valuable is it to be "busy"? So busy many of us are, we are lucky if we wake up in time to realize our lives are over. But being exposed to life or death situations relatively early in my life taught me how fleeting & precious our lives really are.
In the current "system," at the end of the day, who precisely are we running around 24-7 & being so busy for? Are we truly being so busy for ourselves & our families?
Yet it seems much suffering occurs when parents are too busy for their children...
Or is someone else in this purported "system" taking far, far, FAR too much? Who is in control? Who is siphoning all the value and at what cost? Are our too-busy lives distracting us from what we should be focusing on and fighting for?
I have grave concerns about how ever-more powerful technologies enabling those becoming ever-more powerful at the top will further enhance the power of today's "system" over humanity as a whole.
I continue to consider the question of "Are we too busy?"
- Are we too busy that we're missing the most important things in life?
- In today's world & in the world we are creating of the future, do people have time to love?
- If it is true that what happens to one person, happens to all people (which is the gist of "The STARLING Connection"), then if we are too busy to notice "all the kids getting thrown over the hill," isn't that a strong indicator that a key element is missing? That there exists a much greater problem that affects us all, "rich" or "poor"?
- Are we too busy to follow the key issues affecting our lives or to be functioning Citizens of our Republic?
Without further adieu, here is our friend Simon Laramie, the 15-year-old narrator of "The STARLING Connection," describing the world of 2045:
Most working 'adults' with 'respectable jobs' are go, go, go, full speed ahead, never really here or present with anyone. They’re like the driver-less ULTRA SUVs, on automatic pilot, not even thinking about what they’re doing every day, the true cost of the lives they’re leading or the world they’re creating. Most 'adults' I know aren’t very adult at all. Most don’t acknowledge any responsibility for all their decisions that add up with everyone else’s similar decisions. All the problems they create are always 'someone else’s problem' to deal with. I’m just a kid and even I know that.
Are We Too Busy to Love Justice?
Read "The STARLING Connection."
Click pic to read the first four chapters!
