Yesterday's Daily Quote on my $1.89 desk calendar:

"You've got to create a dream. You've got to uphold the dream. If you can't, then bugger it. Go back to the factory, or go back to the desk." Eric Burdon

Which made me think: what the fuck?!

What exactly is wrong with the factory and/or the desk? The world runs on the labour of people who work in the factory and at the desk. People who do mundane jobs day in, day out. Furthermore there are too many people in this world for whom such a boring job is the very pinnacle of their dream; for a job, any job, means money and a home and food and drink. The sorts of basics we don't even think about because they are so far beneath our day to day concerns.

It is truly fucked up to think your life only has meaning if you are doing some sort of creative pursuit and, better still, making yourself a celebrity through that pursuit. Meaning does not come from fame or wealth. From my experience fame and wealth are much more a product of luck, possibly (but not always) in combination with actual talent, intelligence, creativity and/or hard work.

We are fed this concept not only via quotes on desk calendars but through all forms of media. It is better to die trying to reach for the top than live a life of a million tiny obscure steps. But that isn't and can not be true for that is exactly how the vast majority of the population lead their lives. There needs to be more celebration of the mundane because it is reality. We are poisoning ourselves with these so-called "dreams" because we are constantly de-valueing the lives of normal people who through choice or circumstance will never be rich or famous.

So I say "here's to the little people in the factories and the offices" and while you're at it "fuck the dream"!