Termyn8or
Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
Status: offline
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This is not a can of worms, it is a 55 gallon drum.
I am useless. I fix TVs. Big TVs, not the little kind to get news and weather on, the kind you numb your brain with watching the ridiculous movies they come out with these days. All in all, I really believe the impact of what I do for a living on society is generally negative. Exceptions exist. When I worked in a semi-affluent suburb I was requested more than once to remove the tuner from a TV, I mean a new one. They didn't want their kids watching anything that wasn't on a tape or laserdisk which of course they would supply. If I had kids I would probably do the same.
What taxes I do pay winds up helping our oil hungry war machine. I would like to find a way to take from the govermnment, but for now I must settle for giving them as little as possible.
Now I am not always useless. I have done some serious house repairs. It is rewarding to me and I want to do more of it. Work is very flexible with my hours. I can make time. I have designed and installed a central heating system where none had existed before, took me a half a day to figure out how to put in a central AC system. When I rewire a house it is safe, which I think is fairly important.
For only short times in my life does home remodeling actually pay my bills, usually it is fixing the brain drainers. I would like to do more remodeling. I am not too bad, I like custom, challenging work, in fact my business card says "If you've been told it can't be done, we welcome your call". I am not in it to do roofing and drywall. Of course that is an "important" part of the job, but there are alot of people faster than me, that is not where my earning power lies. The drywallers come in with their taping guns and do in a day what would take me a week. But point them to my table saw, router and miter saw, they would not be the best choice to make custom moulding. Similarly you do not let roofers do the wiring.
The fact that my time is valuable makes their time valuable. If I pay two guys like $600 for two short day's work, it may seem like they are getting a windfall, but that is not so. While they mud and tape, I might be in the basement bending conduit or something like that.
Also I think a certain contingent of useless people has gone unmentioned. Remember corporate downsizing ? If they can downsize and end up making more money, someone was useless. In fact whoever 'upsized' the place to that point in the first place was useless. Yup, that may well mean the big boss, the guy with the 40' yacht and the spacious mansion in the hills. Could be useless.
Public assistance is no real measure of uselessness. Let's say a schoolteacher gets injured and is now on disability. He or she can't work, but not only paid into the system, was effective at their job and liked it. With many families existing with both Parents working, they wind up watching their kids between time school lets out and their folks get home. They are a positive influence, help them with their homework and such. Is that useless ?
Drastically contrastic are those who made food stamps (now card) nessecary. Let me get this straight. No matter how fucked up the government is, one can walk in the office there and get money to feed their kids if they're down and out. But you can't give them money because they'll spend it on booze or drugs. What kind of people would let their kids go hungry for a buzz ? I think we need to refer to the title of this thread for the word, it's right there.
What if your Walmart greeter is retired, likes people in general, possibly lonely sometimes, bored, but wants to buy a boat in which to go fishing ? Or what if their pay from Walmart goes to pay their child support or alimony so that the pay from their "real" job can go to support their new family ?
They say judge not lest ye be judged. While I agree, it is not like you think. The operative word here is 'lest'. I judge everybody, I admit it. And so do you, whether you admit it or not. What that first sentence says is really don't go judging people without expecting them to judge you. You judge me every time I strike a key in this 'post' window. Some of you have a negative opinion of me, that is fine. But I'll be damned for what I am.
Ever hear the song "You want fries with that ?", I think it's Toby Keith, not sure. A full grown Man working at a fast food window. On the surface it might seem the guy had no ambition, but you never know. To really know you must know how they think. Did they take this job because of some extreme strife dealt to them by life, and it is just a stop-gap measure to keep their credit alive ?
The only way to tell is to know. People's impact on those around them is oft ignored. I used to be a bad influence on everyone, and once I uttered those words, in jest, I didn't like them. They rang too true. I am different now. "NO, DO NOT go shoot your ex, hit my door, I did it last month, there's still a panel left in perfect condition. He didn't get all the way through it like I did but he did calm down. It is strange how in some Men hurting knuckles can ease the pain in their heart, but that's the way it is. The door is scrap anyway, so I let him pound away on it. Of course them days are over when I pull $300 out of my pocket for a new door.
If you're starting to think I have a pretty interesting life, you got that right.
I think my point is that uselessness depends alot more on what is not readily seen. We have been taught not to look beyond the surface of issues, but some of us have managed to unlearn it. Kudos to everyone who has.
Be back later.
T
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RE: what makes someone "useless" - 
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