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Suitable work
I was looking at this article. I was reminded of a dancer that came to entertain the tour group I was in, the night we were camping near some small villages in Rajastan. Barefoot, dressed in bright blue skirts and silver bangles, she whirled and dived for the group of older Americans, near our campfire. I’m not sure if she was a eunuch or actually a man who crossdressed to dance for tourists, but between a certain testosterone-type sharpness to her features and the fact that it was a very conservative area, I’d guess one of the two. Dancing to give others good luck is one of the few things that eunuchs in India can do to make money, traditionally.
And suddenly my mind jumps to transgendered sex workers, here in the States, playing on the popular “she-male” trope to keep themselves fed and clothed and in the medications they need. From there, straight to child prodigies, athletes and musicians that are just so perfectly suited to what they do that there’s nothing in life but for them to excel at it. And then back to the children we saw in India in a factory that did marble inlay, doing physically difficult work that only tiny hands could manage, work they would be unsuited for as they grew.
There are days I feel lost for not having something really obvious to do in my life, some talent that makes me chase it down, even some difficulty or disability that makes my next steps obvious. There’s a certain kind of pleasure, though a free-thinking radical like me is often embarrassed to admit it, in doing what is expected of you.
But most days, I value the blessing of my life as a dilettante, and hope that the world can value the process as well as the outcome.
And suddenly my mind jumps to transgendered sex workers, here in the States, playing on the popular “she-male” trope to keep themselves fed and clothed and in the medications they need. From there, straight to child prodigies, athletes and musicians that are just so perfectly suited to what they do that there’s nothing in life but for them to excel at it. And then back to the children we saw in India in a factory that did marble inlay, doing physically difficult work that only tiny hands could manage, work they would be unsuited for as they grew.
There are days I feel lost for not having something really obvious to do in my life, some talent that makes me chase it down, even some difficulty or disability that makes my next steps obvious. There’s a certain kind of pleasure, though a free-thinking radical like me is often embarrassed to admit it, in doing what is expected of you.
But most days, I value the blessing of my life as a dilettante, and hope that the world can value the process as well as the outcome.
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2. I think that the idea of the 'generalist' - has been devalued by the current social system due to a number of factors. The best commentary I've heard on it to date is in 'Operating manual for Spaceship Earth' by Fuller. I think there's a copy of it on The Buckminster Fuller Institute website (I'm referring to the part that starts with "Of course, our failures are a consequence of many factors"... - The site's layout is unfortunately ass, so I can't give you a closer link. :( )