Girl in an expensive American city tells me to travel often and quit my job.
Chuck Palahniuk holds a gun to a man’s head and makes him promise to follow his dreams.
Paul Ryan Spending Final Day Of Campaign Reminding Homeless People They Did This To Themselves
(As I tried to submit this to @pastabagel, I saw an ad by an institute of higher learning suggesting that I further my career by giving them money. A nice coincidence made possible by the fact that ads for higher degrees are more ubiquitous than weight-loss ads.)
(Beware: some of the images beyond “Read More” are violent.)
Do what you love, and do it often. Ayod, Sudan 1993
Life is simple. Johannesburg, 1993
If you don’t like something, change it. Lagos
Travel often. Lagos
Stop over analysing. Lagos
Live your dream. Kentucky, 1964
If you don’t like your job, quit. Bandra
Making tortillas in Puebla. If you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV.
Chaiwallas earning $0.10/glass in Mumbai
Ask the next person you see what their passion is,…
and share your inspiring dream with them. I’m guessing the Hamptons?
Getting lost will help you find yourself. Lagos
PS: Someone worth listening to pointed out I’ve taken a ham-handed approach to deconstructing this treacle with the photos I used above. This is true. I had originally written a long text about my ambivalence toward the message. But: blah, too boring. It sat in the queue for perhaps a year.
This “inspirational” sign targets EEUU’s only so I am cheating a bit by opening up to the wider world. But let’s stick to the USA. Are you, a rich person bored with your completely-fine office job, braces-straight teeth, fly in airplanes, hear about a cush job from your [also rich] friend, going to lecture to someone making $20k/yr with two kids, or a 54-year-old window washer, driving a jalopy that breaks down and they can’t get to work, travel by Greyhound, can’t afford dental care, perhaps some older relatives living at home as well, that they should travel often, you are defined by what you produce, and if they don’t like their job they should quit? That’s ignorant.
Too, the “follow your dream” script doesn’t make any f***ing sense to me. Where did your dream to be a veterinarian, or a rockstar, or a Venture Capitalist, or own a cute little coffee shop come from? Was it from a realistic experience or from imagination and cultural soup and conversations with people politely making appropriate smalltalk watering and fertilising what the milieu already seeded in your mind? Your dream career is going to fail or succeed on various cause & effect which have maybe nothing to do with whether the job truly expresses your personality (or what you wish your personality were). Let’s not make the pasture on the other side of the valley look any greener than it already looks. There’s something to be said for being satisfied with what you have—especially when it’s a lot.
OTOH, everyone who can eat would benefit from appreciating the taste of the food.
