Shards of Self - A Reflection
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In a way I suppose that I've always known that it was so.
The easiest way to get ahead in life is to be comfortable with getting ahead in life...
25 years earlier.
A kid, soon to be teenager, looks down upon the pages, perplexed.
A pale light filtering in from outside suggests that the Sun and the clouds are having their dance once again.
A hand rises, hesitantly. An older voice beckons.
"What is it James?"
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"If I am making 25 cents on one Lira of cost - doesn't that mean that I am charging more than the product is worth?"
The teacher is unphased. "Yes. This is what making a profit is about. If you buy something at one price then you need to make sure that you are selling for a higher price to make it worth your time."
"Oh. If you are buying something only to sell it for a higher price... aren't you stealing from those you sell to?"
An eyebrow rises. "It is not stealing... and it is not as simple as that. You are also including the cost of the service that you are offering, bringing a product closer to the consumer. You too need to be paid at the end of the day."
"I see... So... what is the right amount to add?"
The distance is restored. "The consumers will show you what the right price is. It is whatever price they are willing to pay."
The lesson continued. The soft light filtering between the steel bars fades, along with the classroom, and the memory also.
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The wall beckons me closer, to reach out and to touch it.
My fingertips follow the scratches and grooves upon its surface.
In my mind's eye they begin to stand out. The emboss, shadows & contrast deepen.
I take a step back... stunned only at the clarity.
"The way to get above is to tread upon the backs of the down-trodden
The path to wealth is paved with a carpet of their sweat, blood and tears."
Ten years earlier.
The Sun beats down upon the Earth and upon the baseball cap upon his head.
The sky might be hazy with humidity and dust but it does little to allay the heat.
With the last batch of leaflets in his satchel the individual moves from door to door.
Door to door he violates their letterboxes with yet more unsolicited leaflets.
On occasions that he meets somebody at the door, he greets them with a weary smile.
"Good afternoon! Do you live here?
Ah alright - so I'll just hand this little leaflet to you then!
Its just a little note to let you know that I'll be on the ballot for your district...
Well, have a nice day!"
Fade out...
Fade in...
"What are you doing here?"
"Why are you doing this?"
"Whats in it for you?"
Snickers...
"You're here for nothing!"
The picket sign remained aloft.
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One looks left. One looks right.
One looks forward and sometimes back.
Looking down one sees lines etched upon the shifting sands.
"Life's play is a fabric unfurling,
Actors and scripts determined from the start
With chords of determination tearing all apart
Etching a reality new, possibilities swirling."
Also ten years ago.
"It seems that an all too effective way to get ahead is to 'leverage' other persons to produce wealth for you."
The listener cannot quite tell if the man before her was speaking of facts or of revelations - his voice not quite right for either.
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"For as long as one can ensure that one's employee is never paid what he or she is truly worth - one is a large step closer to ensuring that one thrives."
Was it bitterness or frustration creeping into his voice, or was it perhaps even jealousy? His expression had certainly darkened.
"It is messed up, is it not? Its such an obvious conflict of interests... that between employer and employee... each one wishing to carve out more from the other so that they themselves might thrive... and the consumer that they sell their time, their product or their services to is likely little better, ready to carve away from the asking price if given half the chance."
His look shifts away from her.
"Or perhaps they are simply wise to the conniving ways of the sellers that they deal with."
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The scene fades to black and black the scene remains.
From within a quarrel continues.
"If you cannot beat 'em, join 'em. Why should one not? It is the way of this World."
"There are various reasons, beginning with one knowing better than them."
"Do you really know better? Have you noticed that you are going nowhere?"
"Yes I have noticed that I am adrift... I share your frustration but..."
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"But what? You're better than them? They know better and have chosen to adapt!"
"Becoming a part of the problem is less an adaptation, more an appeasement."
"So be it! What 'good' are you going to do, remaining a speck among the sands?
An achiever of nothing, a peer not only in poverty but in irrelevance & failure."
"I am making progress always..."
"Progress! What progress? Every act on your part so far has been futile.
You are capable of better. You know more, you see more but you do not act."
"I am not done with trying..."
"Trying what? 'Changing the World'? You have changed nothing!
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And how do you still try? And how do you know that you know better?"
"I know because people around the World are suffering..."
"So what? What does it have to do with you? You are a nobody!
You cannot even make games. You cannot even better yourself!
A person like you has no business trying to better others. You can't!"
"Calm down..."
"No, I will not calm down! You are a failure and a tool and you know it!
And you don't 'have' to be so. All you need to do is get with the program.
Get your act together and start businesses. Exploit and profit!"
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"..."
"Oh... I get it. You are afraid, aren't you? Its all but a front, isn't it?
You don't care about exploiting. You are just afraid.
Afraid of failing. Afraid of disappointing. Afraid of success?"
"I am afraid of failing but what I truly fear is becoming them."
"Then a failure you shall remain! She was right. You 'are' uncoachable."
"The story is not concluded. Every dog has its day..."
"Not in a kennel it doesn't. To sleep it is put.
She was right. You are but a fool."
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"You aren't going to be changing my mind..."
"Uncoachable 'and' foolish. You might as well give up.
If you cannot succeed then you might as well not try.
Eat, drink, relieve yourself and work...
Until you are fatter, older, greyer, and more bitter.
And then I'll be there to tell you that I told you so."
"I tire of your heckling. Go haunt another self."
"You lost your path long ago... Wake up..."
The darkness fades to oblivion.
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One of the downsides of working upon multiple devices is that occasionally it may seem that a post should have preceded another.
While you, the reader, may rest assured in the knowledge that I am fine, this post represented yet another moment where I felt the need to get some things into the open.
If you have any comments that you would like to share then I will join you down in the comments section below.
Sincerely,
Previous Post: Would You Strike an Unlikely Partnership for a Good Cause?
Well - this is an interesting take on the ethics of the business world.
I somehow suspect that the rest of business owners, those in the stock industry and retail who profit immeasurably from the slave labor of third world countries are not having moral dilemmas as you have presented. In countries with minimum wage and business regulation to ensure there is no corruption - all is well. Where the focus needs to be for the future is to ensure there is a minimum wage for the labor and production of third world products.
As far as making profit from the produce of others? Nuts to ethics of that. If you're prepared to take the risk of responsibility, then you deserve the profit. Every person who was going to make profit from the stock exchange and then there was a drop - they lucked out and tough to them. So there is no reason to feel bad just because they make a profit.
There is no need to have voices in your head like Nash - bouncing around demonic, derogatory thoughts. After reading some of the lines these characters are saying - just send them over to Australia to me!! I'll give 'em a good bloody earful of my Aussie Nurses talkdown and you won't have to deal with any of that shit again!!! Whoever these characters are (real or imaginary - I don't give a crap!) don't listen to them - you are better than this!!
OK - it's only 02:40 and I'm worked up now lol... I think I'll get some more sleep before the day starts.
You stay well my friend!!
Thank you very kindly for the upvote and extensive comment @mysecondself01 :c)
Oh those kinds of business owners I know have found their own respective ways to comfortably live with their gains.
While I am not too keen on the minimum wage mechanism as it basically sets a floor withno indication of optimal payment levels, I quite understand your message.
And your point about how profit can be ethically OK is also well enough received. I am guessing that there are lines to be crossed or not.
Heh - the dialogue towards the end is the result of a personification of those conflicted thoughts and feelings that compete for my attention.
Thank you again for such a thought-out message at such a late hour! ^_^
What I have experienced and discovered is that some of us march to a different drummer. We find ourselves on a challenging path, the path of the philosopher, the hermetic, the monk, the poet, the seeker. If this is true of you then be true to yourself. Find a way to be who you are and the pieces of your life will come together. Challenging. I know. Blessings.
Self discovery!!! It takes a lifetime and then some. Thanks for sharing.