OCCUPATION:
Politics of Self
Let's take a look at the word "Occupation". What do you think about? How we occupy our time is called "Occupation". It is what we do. Sometimes we think of occupation only as work, and yet our lives are so much more than that. We play, eat, sleep, dance, watch TV, play sports, shop, drive, spend money, play music, and create art. There are many occupations of purpose. We learn how to do these occupations from watching the adults around us, from our friends, from things we see and read, and from simple necessity. We are all very different in our interpretation of "Occupation".
The ever-growing need to keep up financially with the world at large is a message that isn't difficult to translate even for a very young child. The media bombards us each day with images and sound that tell us "we should do this to feel this way", "you should do that to achieve happiness" Antidepressants are common place in this techno-industrial faster than yesterday, less time for now world. Leisure is checking out for a few minutes and then back to keeping up with expectations and demands. Suddenly we are not occupying life, life is occupying us.
Way back when a young man found the love of making a violin, he was taken in by a master to become an apprentice at something he enjoyed doing. The love was so great he was willing to mix varnish and sweep floors day after day to learn the craft. Inspiration and Desire, not expectation, becomes the key to our meaningful occupation and enjoyment. Finding this very basic thing eludes so many of us.
Occupation of youth and occupation of adolescence, the occupation of marriage, the occupation of raising children, and as we get older, the occupation of retirement; It's forever in flux, moving, changing metamorphosing, adapting to new obstacles while still following our joy.
