Working

At six, I had no idea what “the growing-up” part even meant.
Back then, survival in kindergarten was all the perspective I needed.

Eventually, the question changed form:
“What do you want to work when you grow up?”
Work?
That word didn’t mean much — except that Mom and Dad spent a lot of time doing exactly it.

Work, as I understood it, was tied to sweat, pressure, and boredom.
A daily occupation that blocked the most beautiful hours of the day.

• Work is obligation.
  
• Work is joyless.
  
• Work is stress.
  
• Work is a necessary evil.

Strange, isn’t it?
How something that sustains families and keeps societies running is often spoken of like a chronic illness.

A view at history might help a little.
From the steam of early factories came the “modern” world of 40-hour weeks, paid vacations, pensions, and cost-of-living adjustments.
Generous business leaders, right?
They wanted happy, secure, and fulfilled employees — during and after work.

How noble.
Except, of course, it wasn’t them.
It was the unions — the so-called enemies of business — who fought for these privileges.
Those noisy people with the big mouths who ruin a boss’s morning coffee.

So what now for the working world?
Not great, I’m afraid.
Maybe even disastrous.
Because the world of labour is turning itself upside down — and tossing people into “free time unpaid.”
The government will have to handle the payroll.

Digitalization, powered by artificial intelligence, is giving natural intelligence a run for its money.
From a cost-benefit point of view, it all makes perfect sense.

But what now, dear working people of the world?

We’re living in a time that desperately needs new models — and new imagination.
Scientists, philosophers, and dreamers have already filled drawers with ideas:
From the modest and doable to the wildly radical.
All they need now is political courage to open those drawers.

"A piece of cake, eh!", as Canadians use to say.
Though history suggests that every time the economy gets “shaken up,”
the cake ends up on the floor first.

Mention Universal Basic Income, four-day work weeks, or fair taxation of the rich,
and you’ll see a few jaws drop.
Those folks prefer words like profit maximization, offshore, and shareholder value.

And just like that, the conflict writes itself.

Maybe, somewhere along the way, we’ve lost sight of what really matters:
the well-being of everyone.

Study after study shows the same thing:
When people have social security, meaningful work, and a fair degree of freedom — whether employed or not — society wins.

• People live healthier.
  
• Crime drops.
  
• Creativity blooms.
  
• And yes — people are simply happier.

“Yeah, yeah — all utopian talk,” you might say.
But history has a habit of turning crazy ideas into tomorrow’s reality.

Of course, progress takes time.
And courage.
And persistence.

Which, come to think of it, sounds like work.

Note to myself:
Work that serves the future of humanity pays off.