In the heart of my childhood was this little memory of me fishing with my grandparents within the serene lakes of china. These were the days of untroubled joy, with childhood innocents, a time where life’s complexities were just distant whispers. Spending my days doing joyous activities instead of the mind numbing repetitive task that often filled my days today. Those memories were a time reminiscing of childhood living for the sake of joy instead of for the sake of society. Each tug on the fishing line was a pulse of excitement, a small victory of experiencing something new. We’d laugh with our laughter mingling with the soft sounds of nature, as we reeled our catch, we felt a sense of joy, knowing that we had not only caught our dinner but also created a bond with a life that would be remembered through whispers of happy times lasting even beyond his passing.
I’m a simple guy. My philosophy in life is straightforward, gravitating towards pleasure and the path of least resistance. Some may call me lazy or a procrastinator putting off tasks until the final second but this approach doesn’t stem from a lack of ambition but rather a statement against the complexity of today’s life. The mundaneness of doing things to get things done or to satisfy others than love ones, seems to me a futile and meaningless existence.
The person I interviewed was Steven, and he roughly had the same response as me. He wanted to sail by the semester, hoping to achieve an A on all his classes. When asked why that was his goal he responded with, “because I wanted to graduate and get a high paying job”. When pressed on that statement he answered, “because I wanted money to accomplish and buy anything that brings me happiness later in life”.