[quote]BrickHead wrote:
I get what you’re saying but I think your argument doesn’t make sense all over. There are some need professions–law enforcement, transit, logistics, truck driving, nursing, teaching, firefighting, all kinds of manual labor, most “mid-skill professionals”–that simply don’t yield that sort of pay, regardless of how hard most in those fields work, yet most of those sorts of people do put in days of honest and hard work.
[/quote]
Without question, you are correct. It takes all kinds to make the world go round.
Part of the issue is as a society we place odd value on things. I could argue, and in some cases would argue, that particularly in urban areas garbage collectors provide more benefit to there community than I do through their work. But, the pay is low, because it is generally unskilled labor and we, as a people, would rather give egotistical lunatics millions of dollars to “play” in front of a camera with a bunch of makeup on. (I like movies, I think acting is work, and sometimes a lot of work, but I think we pay entertainment people way more than they are worth because our values are out of whack.)
The main factor in what I mean isn’t necessarily the amount one is paid, but the amount of effort one puts in. It’s the main reason collectivist societies (socialism, communism, etc) tend to implode on themselves over time.
If someone would make a masterful plumber, but instead chooses to be an artist, which she would be awful at, the market, society, will reject her art by not buying it, and she will have to “fall back” on being a plumber, which society will pay a premium for. If society were to subsidize her art, because she chose to be “more fulfilled” not only is society worse off because they are paying for things they don’t want, her shitty art, and losing out on her skills as a plumber, but she is worse off too as she isn’t reaching her potential.
Now if it is a small portion of people that are doing the above, and choosing the road of least effort, fine. It won’t matter. But as the population of people that can’t find fulfillment in their skill set increases, and the choose paths that aren’t allowing themselves to flourish, the worse the situation gets.
Just because the people you mention don’t make a lot fo money, doesn’t mean they don’t provide valuable contributions to society. Nor does it mean they don’t maximize their skill set. Shit, as long as they put in the effort half the battle is won already.
Complacency is slow death spiral, and to use weight lifting as an example, it is like people who don’t ever try and add weight to the bar, lose any fat, get bigger muscles or try and improve themselves at all. People that have the motivation and desire to go to the gym, but just don’t put any effort into it once there. It’s a waste of time. They would be better off home reading a book or something. Not everyone has to go to the gym, not everyone should work towards an elite total, but if you are going to try at something, try your best ffs.
Hobby or passion, job or family, just try and be better than you were yesterday, challenge yourself a little, and the entire world benefits.