In
the face of uncertainty, I want to prove that doing what’s
“obvious” or moral will more often than not result in a desirable
outcome.
I’m
not exactly “winging it” with this coffee shop, but I’m kind of
winging it. My entire problem solving process goes like this: “Hey,
this is a problem…Oh, that’s what I have to do to fix it?...I did
that thing so now the problem is fixed.” Scene. I believe in
objective reality. This means that I bank my decisions on a common
language and common perception of cause and effect. If history is
anything to learn from, (it is) I’ve been lucky enough to be born
into a world where lessons that take some people their entire lives
to learn are neatly laid out in Cracked articles.
I
want to spread the wealth around. I’m a dirty “Socialist” for
all you idiots who have no idea what you’re talking about. I live
an embarrassingly good life and remind myself of this every day.
Spending money sucks, and fixing problems that should never have been
problems sucks, and not sleeping sucks, and always feeling under-prepared sucks; I still live within the means and in a society
that lets me try. I have an opportunity to make an investment in that
society and in myself. What’s good for the people that help me with
that is obviously good for me.
I
have no idea why some people find this so hard to understand. If I
was a billionaire, you could take 99% of my wealth and I’d still be
better off than most people, let alone 90% after my first 10 billion.
Yet, this is the paradigm we live in, where even the idea of enabling
people to work, instead of sit around and wait to rebel, is met with
anathema. It really makes me wonder how society is going to mold my
ideas about business. Of course I started a business to turn a
profit. I want to be self-sufficient, efficient, and personal. If
those ideals can’t sustain me because the laws in place are
designed to generate profit through exploitation and complicated
legalese, where’s my place?
Of
course I’m willing to try, given my half constructed kiosk sitting
in the mall. I’ll kindly ask for patience while I make a few sales
and then buy an espresso machine. I’ll try to engage in mutually
beneficial advertising campaigns with other small business owners in
town. I’ll use the eco-friendly cups and as fairly-traded coffee as
possible. I’ll even start paying all of my taxes one day when it’s
shown to me the money is actually going towards infrastructure and
environmental care. But alas, I’m sure I’m just a naïve idealist
with my little shop. I have no idea the minds of the big kids and how
things are actually supposed to run. (The
“asshole” way)
I’m
genuinely concerned and confused by a dumb society. My ideals go out
the window when you can’t get past feeding or housing people. And
that’s certainly the state of many places in the world and for a
growing number of people here. I need a good portion of people to be
better in the same way I’m trying to express what I can show to be
better. Otherwise, you literally will be a drag on other people. I
don’t want to just succeed in making money; I want to succeed in
generating value. I want to excite, motivate, and make people smile.
I want to teach and idiot proof things. I want things to be learning
and growing opportunities instead of looming risks attenuated only by
the fervent “good luck” sentiments of your friends.
If
anyone is proud or happy for me, don’t forget or pretend that you
don’t impact what I do. You teach me, you challenge me, and you
motivate me, usually more often than you frustrate or scare me. My
friend circle is part of society-at-large. I hope that I can affect
you back in ways that let you stand for the ideas you know will make
the world, if only in your circle, better.
