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Feb 6, 2009 - 05:54 PM |
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Words from Bill Watterson - Thoughts and Connections |
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On a whim, I decided to look up information on Bill Watterson in no small part because the role that Calvin and Hobbes played in my childhood was so great even if I didn't understand much of the philosophical musings that he spouted back then.
Source: http://home3.inet.tele.dk/stadil/spe_kc.htm
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Quote:
Despite the futility of the whole episode [him painting on the ceiling of his dorm room], my fondest memories of college are times like these, where things were done out of some inexplicable inner imperative, rather than because the work was demanded...
It's surprising how hard we'll work when the work is done just for ourselves...
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Maybe taking his words as a way of justifying my hobbies goes a bit far, but lately, I've been feeling these sentiments more keenly than I've felt before, especially in light of some recent developments in my life.
The process of writing on my blog and for that anime review site have been very motivating and I have the drive to actually spend copious amounts of time thinking and writing even though I know that it's unlikely to yield substantial fruit beyond self-satisfaction. Is this pure selfishness? If I were to focus my efforts on doing things that society values (like providing a good or service), would I be capable of achieving much much more than I currently am in society's eyes?
Ultimately, the answer to both of those questions is yes, but this answer doesn't bother me as much as it once did because the kind of work that others may consider a waste of brain power makes me happy. Being happy with your life and who you are, I've found, is more important than gaining prestige, a concept that I'm convinced is a lure that society puts out to get smart people to do things that no one in their right minds would do for a living (see: investment banking) (1). That's why to me, work is painful by its very nature precisely because it's work. Those who are lucky enough can escape that cycle by engaging in a hobby that happens to make them a decent living, which definitely makes life far more fulfilling than toiling away in an investment bank, law firm, or doctor's office just to be able to tell people that you work in those professions and earn those megabucks. Or maybe those people who work such jobs didn't consider the value of intangible benefits like time to allow one's mind to wander when they made the value calculation to enter a certain profession.
(The next trick: try to get parents who are so taken in with the middle-class ethos to understand this concept.)
(1) Paul Graham also writes about this over in one of his essays.
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