Work to live

My daughter took a summer job scooping ice cream in the next town from where she lives. Kind of a nice little job...kind of...not a lot of hours for not a lot of pay putting up with the spoiled brats of the upper white middle-class, not seeing her friends because she's stuck a lot of time in another town and can't get rides...but, hey, I know what you're thinking: it's a summer job, she's in high school, don't expect too much. Welcome to the working world, honey.

See, that's my problem in life: I keep expecting too much. I keep expecting that life should be enjoyable. That you should enjoy what you do, even if you're a high school student and it's a summer job.

I don't understand people who say, why do you think they call it work? I don't understand people who say, I don't enjoy my job, why should you? I don't understand people who think because they suffer, everyone should suffer, too.

Shouldn't it be that, if you're suffering, you'd want to fix it for other so they don't have to suffer, too? If you walked two miles in the snow to school, shouldn't you work to build a school closer? If you hate your job, shouldn't you work so others don't have to suffer, too.

Ah, but misery loves company, doesn't it? It's the poor, poor me side of human beings. Everyone wants sympathy.

I'd never tell my kid to just knuckle down and work, essentially exchange her life for money. That's what I do, and I don't want my kids to do it, too. I want them to learn early on that work should support their life, and not the other way around. I made that mistake. Or rather, I love my work, I just don't like my job right now. And I'm working to change that. I'm not going to suffer and expect others to suffer too.