David Owoyemi: Confessions Of The Rat Race (Pt 2)

6 Min Read

I have a deep secret to reveal, and I hope the people will listen;

But hardly would they, because they are so busy in the Rat Race.

 

Where did the JOB come from?

He who gives JOBS has power. You must have noticed that by now. Considering that there is so much work (Anytime there is a vacuum or lapse anywhere, work is created) on the earth, why is it that the majority of people are looking for a JOB? Since man naturally loves to handle power or exercise control why don’t you have more people wanting to become givers of JOBS? What is so special about a JOB that you are required to spend at least sixteen years of formal education in order to get? Yet, no one ever told you about how jobs came about. No one ever told you about the Rat Race that you are being prepared for. Hmm. You’d better-paid attention now.

While WORK existed before man, JOB was his creation. It came about when a few men found work they could not do alone, so they decided to engage others who could help achieve what they set out to achieve. These men simply used their own tools to create a system (some people call it an organization) that harnessed other people’s tools to do a measure of work that is far greater than what each individual could have done on his own. Then they created a compensation system that distributed a fraction of the reward actualized in the process of doing the work to the people they engaged. So, JOB is simply a platform to help someone do his work.

 

Is there anything wrong with having a JOB?

Not really, but a job should be a platform to prepare you and your tools and sometimes even help you to discover or support your true work. (Your true work is the vacuum you were sent to fill. It is where your tools find greatest relevance and from it flows REWARD, FULFILLMENT, IMPACT and GROWTH.)

 

Where does the rat race come in?

You will agree with me that the human race has come a long way. As mankind advanced through the ages, so did her needs and wants. Since the resources (discovered resources) available to meet human wants were unevenly distributed, most people chose to pursue resources first and then think about their WORK later. The need to have rather than the need to add value became the driving force behind most human activity.

Unfortunately, the human race underestimated the power of the chase. The more people pursued resources, the farther they got from their true WORK as they were willing to do any kind of work to get resources. Fulfilment and Impact didn’t appeal to people as long as the Reward was there. It wasn’t long before work became a burden rather than an enjoyment.

Also, because of the fear of not having resources, and the need for security, most people preferred to pursue JOBS. It seemed like the right thing to do since someone else had created a system which enabled others to use their tools to do his work for which he provided some form of compensation,

Very few people saw the job as an opportunity to work (add value), but as an avenue to earn a living (get resources to meet needs). The average person will move from one job to another as often as possible in search of better pay. They looked up to the system (organization) to take care of their needs and wants even after they had retired. Paycheck became a new status symbol in the society. The more people earn, the more their wants increased, and the more they had to work longer and harder to earn more. And the cycle continues. The Rat Race was born.

Most people did not see anything wrong with the system as long as their needs were met. As the demand for jobs overtook the supply of it, the value of labour began to diminish. Soon people took any jobs they found even if the job was far below their capabilities. Sometimes they were willing to accept lower pay. Do they have an option? Job givers became more powerful as they exercised more control, not just over job takers’ tools but over their time. This meant that most people were confined to living their whole lives helping to do another’s work.

The real problem is not the scarcity of jobs or having a job, but the fact that most people are working for money. Truly, meeting needs is important but man was created with a mission and tools with which to do an important WORK on earth. There are so many problems in the world; so many vacuums to be filled because most people are not in the place of their WORK. They are lost in the rat race chasing after survival (reward/resources/ money). See, it’s not my fault.

 

To be continued…

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