Slave to the wage
Aristotle once said “All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.” How true that is! These days, it seems like I have little time for the things I would like to do, would like to learn to do.
Between working and parenting, it sometimes seems that I have no time at all left for the improvement of my mind (or body, too, for that matter). Which is not to say that I have not been trying. I bought a used Dell in January, with the aim of converting it into a development testbed where I could practice Web-related programming and the like, but since then I have had only a few chances to use it.
I’ve been thinking of cutting a deal with my wife in which we can each take a “day off” during the month, one whole day free of responsibilties, free to use as we see fit. Right now that seems like a luxury beyond reach, but when I think about it, I realize that it would only amount to a lousy 12 days of free time a year--not exactly enough time to acquire the programming skills I would like!
Still, I am sure my wife feels much the same way--if not even more pent in by her paid job and parental obligations. She handles much more of the day-to-day parenting than I do--and she has less opportunity to socialize. I can’t help but feel bad when I pedal off to the gym for a quick workout, leaving her with our daughter, again. I wish there were a way to have a family and a life, but at the moment it seems like I am forced to make a choice between the two. I can certainly understand why divorces are so common in the States: Having a family is a full-time job all by itself. Add a full-time job to that and you have no time for a life of your own--you are either a parent to an employee for all of your waking hours. I don’t think human beings are psychologically equipped to deal with a total lack of self-expression for the length of time it takes a child to mature into an adult.
To all the parents who have gone before me, holding a job and taking care of everything, I truly, deeply, sympathetically appreciate your sacrifice.
