Somewhere on Earth someone has a line on their hand like mine. One of their fingerprints is in a similar shape or their fingers spread the same way mine do. They aren’t the same. The lines don’t perfectly meet. One little imprint is off.
The life I’ve lived so far has been lived a thousand times over; there is an equation that’s been applied to generations of people without adjustment. When you are born you are assigned a number that accompanies you even past your death. Through school and college and career and family, through the wrinkles and spots on withered and shaking hands. You get one shot with this number and that is it. One chance with the equation: can’t forget to carry the one or you’re already dead.
From early on in life kids are told that the key to success is to work hard. If you keep your head down and really focus for the next 50 years you will be rewarded with the twilight of your life. If you just work and work and work you’ll have saved enough money by the time you’re old to be able to do whatever you please, right? What works for some doesn’t work for all. This idea of working your way to a foot above the water level has been effectively impossible since the turn of the millennium. Unless you have some sort of head start then your life is over before it begins. If you want to deviate from the status quo you’re scrutinized for every minute detail of your existence; you cannot succeed unless you abide by the equation.
The work-life balance line has been blurred to the point that it’s no longer there. Employers want you working around the clock outside of your specified hours. If you don’t then your position is in jeopardy. They will always find someone else to do your job for longer at a cheaper rate. This is why unions are so important; employees fighting for the rights of employees to keep the invisible hand of the market at bay. With new innovations in technology people keep living longer and that means there are more opportunities for work. You can’t just let people off without working them for every last cent. That would be ludicrous. Lawmakers right now are fighting to raise the retirement age so you work until your neurons can no longer fire.