I'm nearly thirty. This is scaring me, by thirty you are supposed to have it all worked out and be extremely mature. I am not extremely mature. I am very immature.
Unfortunately my new job means that I have to be Extra-Super mature. By some bizarre twist of fate I find myself as a school principal. I'm not sure how it came about, I was pretty much decided on retiring from teaching and finding something else to do!
I've learned a few things lately, and I'd like to share them because I think they are important. I'm sure that you have heard all these things before, I certainly had but it's only lately they have sunk in properly.
Firstly and most importantly, what do you want to be? Sounds like a question you get asked by your teacher or big brother. But think about it. What do you really want to be? I have Beck to thank for this one because he provided an excellent model. Beck wanted to be a musician. He was told that he sucked but he didn't listen. He experimented in his bedroom with an old tape machine and a variety of musical instruments. He busked on the street. He even got up in between sets at gigs with a guitar and pretended that he was supposed to be playing! Basically, he just did what it was that he wanted to do, he didn't need permission from anyone to do it.
I decided a year ago that I wanted to be a writer. So one day I started writing. That's what Beck would have done. I may never write anything that gets published but that's not the point. I have become a writer because I write. Do what it is that you want to do, and there ya go. Just do it, screw what anyone else thinks.
Next thing is, take responsibility for yourself. Our government is taking more and more responsibility for us making us into helpless, mindless citizens. And they do it in the name of kindness, of social welfare. I don't know if it's an innocent thing or not, I hope it is. I just got back from a holiday to South East Asia which was pretty mind expanding. There if you don't look after yourself you are done for. An example is alcohol deregulation. If you own a bucket you can buy a little ice and some beer from a store and sell it by the roadside. It's pretty common, you see it all over Bangkok. What you don't see is drunk people. And why is that? Because if you drink too much you aren't much good for work the next day which means you lose your job. If you lose your job you are in danger of starving because the state isn't going to subsidise your drunk ass. This is an over simplification, but it illustrates the point.
Am I saying the welfare state is a bad thing? Yes. In a word, yes. It's made us soft, taken away our need to look after ourselves. I wonder how many people in this country (New Zealand) would be unemployed if there was no back-up. You aren't going to get piss drunk every night if it means you risk losing your food supply.
I'm not advocating a total removal of social welfare. However, I believe welfare payments should be in the form of vouchers, not cash. Far too much money is being spent on booze, lottery tickets and cigarettes. It sickens me.
I believe it is the responsibility of the government to produce citizens who are able to become self-reliant. That is not the case here.
In my country a percentage of our people believe that the state owes them a living, that they have some devine right to welfare. Unfortunately our politically correct government seems to agree with them. I HATE political correctness. It's going to destroy our country and there's nothing we can do about it. We are currently witnessing the meltdown of our education and health systems due to lack of funds. And where are those funds going...
Anyway, I digress. The point is don't let yourself become reliant on anyone else.
Lastly, and most strangely, don't allow yourself too much spare time. Keep yourself busy, you will be much happier. If you are buggered, by all means have some recovery time. Otherwise, try and use your time to be creative. When I stop creating I become unhappy, depressed and disgruntled. I don't know if everyone is like this, but I really notice it. If you are the same you will know what I mean. I have resolved to keep myself busy this year. With my job I won't have too much trouble...
Well, that's it for now. I don't know, I told you at the start that I didn't have things figured out but maybe this will speak to you on some level...
Maybe you disagree or would like to take issue with some of this, Excellent! Email me via the link on the mainpage!