I am spoiled.
I am spoiled because I was able to avoid working a day job.
I am spoiled because I think I can have whatever I want (in the sense that I think my ideas about society will become reality).
Shouldn’t I enjoy being spoiled? I mean, why bother thinking about other people who are not as spoiled when I can just enjoy being spoiled and that will be that.
"Weekend is too short."
"I wish I never had to work."
"But then you’d be bored."
"I wouldn’t be bored."
"You have to remember that I spent maybe at least 40% of the last 8 years not working."
"So that means you’re spoiled?"
"Yes. But, I wasn’t bored."
So, in some sense, I had an appropriate comeback. I successfully proved that I wasn’t (and probably wouldn’t be) bored if I wasn’t working. Yet, I opened myself up to the idea that I’m spoiled, which is easy to see because I’m related to the owner. And just like the idea that I have clinical depression or some other unstable mental illness, being seen as being spoiled chips away at my credibility.
But, what credibility did I have before to be chipped away at? And do I really want to have credibility in the first place? So … it seems that I am being told in a relatively passive-aggressive manner that I am exerting too much authority in that room. I must find my humbleness and make sure I do not close the space for others to exercise their need to have authority.
"I believe that all humans should have food, water, shelter, and clothing." The ensuing discussion must have implanted a sense in some people that I felt I was right and they were wrong. I probably came off that way in past discussions as well. Some people seem angry that I can have that stance … almost as if only someone who’s experienced what it’s like to be spoiled could agree with the idea of ‘spoiling’ others by not forcing them to work in order to live.