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To me, a life that is in content and has meaning trumps all those whatever higher trajectory means. I mean.. isn’t achieving those higher trajectories the goal

• worker_person 4y ago
  Watching your child being content to work at Taco Bell for the next 50 years is not something to be proud of. Regardless of contentment.
  • s5300 4y ago
    Why? Billions across the world would be incredibly happy with their kids getting to do something like this. If you aren’t happy with a content child, sounds like you had children for all of the wrong reasons & would be a horrible, potentially abusive parent.
    • monktastic1 4y ago
      I understand the underlying sentiment, but this is an awfully aggressive way to get your point across. The irony is that we tend to be aggressive when we're triggered due to unresolved traumas in ourselves -- which we then pass on to our own kids. I'm not here to psychoanalyze you, but food for thought.
      • gowld 4y ago
        Fair, but the context was a parent publicly shaming their children for living peaceful, eco-friendly, simple lives, which is far worse.
    • gunfighthacksaw 4y ago
      My friend who is a (really smart) SWE in Canada said that compared to his own country, he could live here on a fast food salary, smoke weed, make music and still have a better life than his home country. We forget that a job where you get free food and a low wage for simple work is (historically speaking) extremely luxurious.
  • plutonorm 4y ago
    Of course it is.
  • nshung 4y ago
    Why not?
    • rtp4me 4y ago
      Because at some point, the $9.50/hr job at Taco Bell will run its course, and your child will end up with severely limited resources. Together with a lack of funding and poor health care options, your children will probably return back home to "evaluate their situation". At that point, they will start wondering why they have been left behind in society, why the system is rigged against them, etc. As we all know (and frequently discussed here on HN), a minimal wage job results in limited housing options, limited healthcare options, limited educational options, etc. As a parent, it is my responsibility to prepare my children to become self sufficient beyond the minimum wage job. For the sake of themselves and their children.
      • gowld 4y ago
        Why would you want someone to never learn that the system is rigged against them? So they blame themselves for their oppression? Millions of people will never rise above minmim wage jobs. Why fix that for one person ,and not for all? A Taco Bell worker probably has more free energy and intrest for tackling big problems like protesting against the oligarchs.
        • worker_person 4y ago
          This is garbage. Work hard, plan hard, save money. Push through setbacks. Maybe you won't be a billionaire. But you can do pretty well in life. Don't blame others for your own laziness. Just met a guy last month that spent 5 years working at a carwash at minimum wage. He saved up money the entire time. Got himself a van decked for mobile cleaning. He still works hard, but is making some serious money now. Seen far more that just collect welfare checks, smoke pot and play videos or watch tv for 16 hours a day, while blaming "whomever" for their situation.
          • wruza 4y ago
  • Taywee 4y ago
    I'd be proud of it, if they were a good person, took care of themselves, took care of the people around them, and were truly happy in their lives. Some people are perfectly happy working low-level positions in restaurants, sanitation, retail, and the like for their lives, and maybe maintaining a few hobbies and relationships that give them personal meaning off their work hours. It's only a problem if they aren't actually content. I've known tons of people working minimum wage who sneer at "elites", don't seek higher things, and get high all the time, but really resent the fact that they never did anything with their lives. They don't build their hobbies, they don't seek higher levels of employment or skill, and they constantly talk about how they want to do great things that they never do. There will always be an infinite amount of achievement that you never accomplished. There will always be an infinite number of things you never did. The best thing you can do is prioritize, accomplish the things that you really want to accomplish, and try to do your best to be happy with what you are able to do. Live your life happily, and make the people around you happy.
    • blazingfrog2 4y ago
      > I'd be proud of it, if they were a good person, took care of themselves I honestly don't know how anyone (good person or not) can properly take care of themselves on a Taco Bell hourly salary.
      • palmetieri2000 4y ago
        Yes, It is the workers fault that they do not get enough funds to properly take care of themselves while working full time. Really dumb take.
        • blobbers 4y ago
          It is possible that some jobs are meant to be stepping stones, not permanent positions (ie: you outgrow them, and someone lower on the learning totem pole steps into the role for a time).
          • 4y ago
  • Volundr 4y ago
    Why not? My first job was Wendy's and honestly... It's not the least satisfying job I've had. My unwillingness to do it now has more to do with having become accustomed to the luxury that comes with a software developer salary than anything negative about fast food (same reason I won't go back to being a security guard, which was hands down the best job I ever had). I feel like there's a strong argument to be made that the person working at Taco Bell and is satisfied with their life is better off than a random cube dweller slowly losing their soul in the name of material comforts.
    • yw3410 4y ago
      What did you enjoy about being a security guard?
      • Volundr 4y ago
        A bit of context that might be important: Most of my time spent as a security guard was spent either taking the closing shift at an outlet mall on the outskirts of town, or a night or weekend shift at a large office building. I rarely did things like work at a busy mall during the day. The best part frankly was that there was so little I actually needed to do. I filled out a few forms, I walked the whole site X times of Y period (usually once every 1-2 hours, but depended on the site). Beyond that I was largely just expected to be at my post, reasonably alert and professional looking. My time was my own to do homework, study, read, program, or whatever. I realize that a job without anything to do is a nightmare for some people, but I've never had a problem filling my own time. Other pros: * I knew my regular sites almost like my home. Sure during they day there were tons of people, but by the night/weekend when I took over, I was basically the only person in the building and it felt like it was mine. * Eating lunch on the roof overlooking the city. * Some of the chillest co-workers I've ever met, from the maintenance crew to the other guards. * 12-hours shifts meant I was usually only working 3 days a week. * On holidays me and the maintenance guy would have private movie showings in the building auditorium. Cons: * 99% boring, but when things get exciting they get real exciting. Only time I've had guns pointed in my direction, and they were cops. * I think getting off work and going to bed a 7 a.m. for years has permanently kind of borked my sleep.
  • monktastic1 4y ago
    Everyone is focusing on whether being content with working at Taco Bell is sufficient in life, but I think the more interesting question is whether they truly are content. That's not for me to answer, but if the South Park quote has any truth (and I think it has more than a little), in 50 years' time, they themselves might not be happy with how things went in retrospect. In that case, it's possible they weren't really content all that time, but were using weed to avoid deeply feeling that discontent. I say this as someone with at least a little experience, not to be judgmental.
    • swatcoder 4y ago
      > in 50 years' time, they themselves might not be happy with how things went in retrospect There are moments in later life where everyone feels that way. Statistically, some paths might be show up in studies as more reliable in terms of late life contentment, but on an individual level, we all end up noticing that we left a lot of doors unopened, and can find ourselves stuck wishing we made different choices or had different opportunities. Innumerable careerists and dedicated parents and globe-trotters find themselves stuck discontent, bitter, or resentful. And innumerable people of all paths look back, wonder what could have been different, and reconcile themselves to contentment again. And heck — some people just die before reaching their goals at all. There’s no point speculating whether the chill dude at the Taco Bell is doing it right. They know themselves better than any of us do, and may easily end up more durably content than any of us.
      • monktastic1 4y ago
        > There’s no point speculating whether the chill dude at the Taco Bell is doing it right. I agree, but I think there is value in speculating whether the contentment we feel on weed is really just distraction from discontent. This applies to far more than just weed, of course, but my own experience is that weed is particularly tricky in this regard.
        • swatcoder 4y ago
          Sure, and you could raise exactly the same question to all the people on prescribed psychiatric regimens. They all come with tradeoffs and change the nature of how we experience our lives. That's the point of them. I don't have the insight to guess whether George should prefer to be skinnier and hornier but too depressed to meet his career goals, any more than it's my business to guess that Jane should put down the blunts and be more tuned in with all the drama in the news. I'm busy enough trying to make those choices for myself.
  • jjulius 4y ago
    You're assuming that the two content children work at Taco Bell. For all you know they could have a (to whatever degree) higher-paying job doing literally anything else yet still be content with where they're at.
  • pessimizer 4y ago
    It's this kind of motivation that fuels the efforts to make sure low-level jobs stay unpleasant, unsafe, and uncompensated. It's the "starter job" philosophy, where some jobs are only fit for an inferior class of people who should have no pride, although they produce and distribute almost everything material that we use. Children, immigrants, foreigners... I'm reminded every day that my decision to never work with my hands again was a good one. Nobody respects people who provide for you, that's slave's work, mother's work(, teacher's work, nurse's work.) The ultimate CEO-guru would lie on a cushion all day, being washed and shaved by his VPs, periodically emitting syllables in an unknown language that would be interpreted by other VPs as commands to direct the people who actually do the work.
  • 2-718-281-828 4y ago
    not sure what stereotype you have in mind but I don't see why this should be something keeping a parent from being proud. it's simple, yet honest work and that's about it. so what? not everybody wants or has to be a surgeon ffs
    • txsoftwaredev 4y ago
      But taco bell is the pinnacle of your kid's career ambition? I know as a parent I'd be very disappointed.
      • namose 4y ago
        Not a parent, but I’d personally be more proud as a parent of a Taco Bell cook than, e.g. adtech or a high frequency trading firm (of course, sometimes these places are great for training or getting a name on a resume, but if that was my child’s career ambition I’d be sad). The only issue I would have would be whether they’re making enough to support their other goals.
      • jjulius 4y ago
        I'm a parent. Yeah, Taco Bell isn't "ideal". But hey, is my kid happy? Are they keeping their life together? Are they staying out of trouble? Are their bills paid? If the answer to all of those questions - especially the first - is yes, then I am happy. Of course I will push them to strive for more than that, but what they do with their lives when they leave the house is up to them, and at a bare minimum, I just want them to be happy with whatever they choose.
      • 2-718-281-828 4y ago
        if "career ambitions" are a major part of how you value your children then you are the one with a problem.
        • txsoftwaredev 4y ago
          We homeschool our three children and put in a lot of time and effort to prepare them to provide for themselves. Do I care of they become the CEO of a company? Of course not but I do want them to achieve what they are capable of. I know my kids and their abilities. Taco bell is not their pinnacle.
• julianlam 4y ago
  It's a nice line of thinking, sure—that you can achieve happiness and contentment without having to strive for the "best". That's the whole point of the matter though, isn't it, that if you don't have ambition, then you voluntarily get yourself stuck in a rut of your making. "I'm content in that my life is shitty in X or Y way, but cannot do anything about it". There was a time when I found comfort in thinking that I would grow up to be "comfortably middle class". My parents disabused me of that notion, and now that I am at that stage, I feel as though there is so much more I can learn and do, instead of clocking in and out day after day. But hey, if you find happiness in working at a gas station or something, maybe you are more enlightened than I am.
  • nshung 4y ago
    "I'm content in that my life is shitty in X or Y way, but cannot do anything about it". What is “shitty” in this context?
  • lovehashbrowns 4y ago
    I don’t understand the thought process of putting someone down based on what they do for a living. Particularly when it just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. The world around you revolves around people that clock in and out day after day. Maybe one day we’ll have 7.5 billion CEOs in the world, huh?
    • blazingfrog2 4y ago
      > I don’t understand the thought process of putting someone down based on what they do for a living Discounting the counter productive condescension required to be the one putting the other guy down, we should all be honest with a simple fact: any typical software dev (just talking about what I know) can succeed at a gas station job while the reverse is not true. This obviously does not afford the software dev the right to be a jerk to anybody (up or down the ladder).
      • gowld 4y ago
        Many, perhaps most, software devs, would utterly fail at a job that had customers, regular hours, physical labor, etc.
• elif 4y ago
  A zen master is alone in his mountain retreat wherever he stands. A life spent seeking further material enrichment or inner personal development will inevitably build a mansion of a self, requiring increasing maintenance and becoming even more difficult to live outside of, let alone deconstruct. It is much easier to accomplish a universal perspective when you have much less 'self' to suppress. That's been the nature of monks of all variety for all of human history. I don't think it's a coincidence or disadvantage that cannabis enthusiasts have a less-selfish mentality.
• tomatotomato37 4y ago
  Life naturally slows you down with age. Without enough momentum built up during your early years you may burn out and crash before you reach the end
• nradov 4y ago
  Contentment is overrated. Contentment is a path to stagnation and decay. It's more important to achieve something of lasting value, even if that means a certain amount of angst and dissatisfaction along the way.