Anarchist No More?

For years, I had been wandering around, living life without a permanent place in this world. I was looking for some meaning in this meaningless life. I went outside the society’s living standards. I was an outcast. I was trying to find out if there’s more to life than this. If there’s more to life than the usual pattern: finish school, get a job, get a career, get married and have kids. I thought, there must be something else. I thought, there must be a better way to live.

Not participating in the norm and living up to the burden of freedom can make you an anarchist, or perhaps, just for the sake of the label. You are not destroying stuff and creating chaos, you are actually inspiring others to be free. It means to courageously live life on your own terms. I think writing essays about the ideology and labeling yourself doesn't make you one. It is to be able to get out of the matrix and think for yourself. It is to refuse to support those that enslave humanity. Those who are corrupt and control the rest of us.

Now as I enter the new chapter in my life, I find myself having no choice but to be socially responsible. I need to participate in the society and contribute something for the betterment of humanity, even if means doing something against my will - supporting the corrupt.

As you all know, part of starting your own business is registering it to the taxman. Oh yes, it makes the crypto dudes cringe just hearing the word ‘tax’. Honestly, I had been outside the country for like 4 years and never had to pay anything. I was a jobless nomad so I was not really required to pay taxes. I was not using our undeveloped roads, terrible healthcare and the exceptional services of the grumpy government employees. However, now that I’m back to being a resident, the politicians need my support once again.

I don’t know how it works in other countries, but here, I have to jump through hoops in order to register my new business or even just to pay my taxes quarterly and annually. And even if I'm not earning something yet, I still have to file no matter what, otherwise, I'd be penalized. Pain in the back mind you. There are some services that do the job but I can’t afford that convenience for now.

I used to work for a multinational corporation and the HR took care of all my tax obligations. All I had to do was to receive my payslip and be surprised by that big deduction off my hard work. Now I’ve transferred my tax registration to this small town so I could be part of its development, like a good citizen I am. Forgive my sarcasm, there are a lot of thriving businesses here now due to mass tourism and yet, the local government still doesn’t pave the muddy roads. It also makes me sad to see the village kids who have to walk on those ugly roads especially during rainy days. And they still haven’t improved the power lines too. Where does the money go?

The major corruption out there makes the one here less significant. It’s distracting you from all the mini corruptions taking place altogether all over the world. Ever wonder why the so-called developing will forever be –ing? It’s meant to be that way. The powerful forces are meant to keep the weaker forces at the same level. The underdogs are taught to be underdogs and the big dogs are taught to keep the underdogs thinking like underdogs.

I know, I tend to rant about stuff when I don’t like to do stuff. But you know, having a business means that I will participate in all that shit. I actually don't mind paying taxes here if I see that people can actually benefit from it, not make them poorer and poorer. I can see better roads in the rural area and more opportunities for livelihood. And I don’t always hear ‘yet another corrupt official' in the national TV. They don’t make dying patients wait, they give free medicines to those who cannot afford it, and they give free burial to those who cannot afford to die.

Growing up in this world just makes me completely lose my trust in the government. You cannot blame me, I see the hardships of those around me every day. Seeing those who just resigned to ‘it is what it is’ as if there’s no hope for social change. People are forced to follow, and now, I’m part of the herd.

I remember this film called ‘SLC Punk’, the main characters were two punk guys, the well-off 'Stevo' and ‘Heroin Bob’ who was afraid of needles. The two friends showed the punk scene in Salt Lake, Utah back in the early 1980s. It’s actually quite a funny movie as they mocked the cliques, the rockers, mods, anarcho-punks, posers, and nerds. Spoiler alert: ‘Heroin Bob’, who never really took drugs in his life, suddenly died by accident due to some medication overdose. Stevo told his dead friend that he’s a poser for dying and leaving him alone. Stevo found it meaningless to continue living the anarcho-punk lifestyle without his friend. He then continued to study law as what his father really wanted him to do. At the end of the film, he concluded that he was the real poser. However, he said that maybe he could bring down the system by being in the system.

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