Peter Sorenson

A Caged Bird

For a long time I have been dissatisfied with the idea of working a 9-5 job,
40 hours a week for 40 odd years. Now I think I should mention that that I am not
fundamentally against working, but rather I have felt that Employment for me acts
in the same capacity as a cage for a bird. To be employed is an unescapable
commitment to regularly trade ones time for money at the expense of ones true life
yearnings. Throughout my life I have frequently heard people say that once they
retire they are going to go travel, or go do things they have always wanted to do. I
have always rejected this type of methodology. I personally have no desire to
exchange my life for a substanceless commodity with no true value and yet this is
exactly where I find myself. This subservience to a power that I feel is outside of my
control is my dark ages. The greater awareness and new perspectives that I have
gained from the various writers on this topic has been my renaissance.
I asked several of my friends and acquaintances what their greatest
concerns in their lives right now were and wasnt surprised to learn that money and
careers were at the top of the list. I dont believe that there has ever been a time
when money has been seen as such a necessity as it is now. The primary focus of
the community at large is the same as that of a business, which is to make the most
money possible. This focus rarely shifts to any other and can become our primary
reason for life without us even realizing it. This was brought to my attention by
Needleman when he said, Theyve wanted honor. Theyve wanted power. Love.
Respect. Beauty. Its hard to say now, though, that our culture wants anything else
as much as it wants money. (Needleman 290) Needlemans discussion with Mr.

Moyers awakened me to a clearer understanding of the way our culture really is. I
started wondering about how this emphasis on finances might have become such a
reality in our nation and I believe that another section has given me some insight
into the matter.
A very interesting chapter that I read during my course was the dependence
effect. This extract spoke about creating wants within the populous though the use
of advertisements and other means. This idea suggested that businesses were
inputting wants within the consumer that previously did not exist. I believe that this
manipulation has led to the current focus of our money driven society. I recently
viewed a TED Talk by Adam Leipzig where he spoke about one of his college
reunions. He said that eighty percent of his class mates, a wealthy and privileged
class of people, were unhappy with their lives. I was thinking while watching this
how can these people have everything money can buy and be so dissatisfied.
This led me to conclude that the pursuit of wealth is an illusory desire implanted
into the minds of Americans by the corporate bureaucracy. From an early age we
are required to attend educational institutions where for close to 8 hours of our day
we are indoctrinated and raised not by our birth parents, as is natural, but rather by
a stranger employed by an institution. Here we are, for the most part, educated in
a way that will prepare us to enter the work place so that we can make money and
contribute to the economy, rather than in a way that promotes creativity, ingenuity,
and learning. We are bred from a very young age to believe that this is how things
are and how they must be. I feel like I had little choice in this matter but I do not
believe that we have been given life simply to become slaves to the corporate
world.

Both Karl Marx and Mahatma Gandhi shared similar views through their
writings. I think Marx accurately represents my feelings about this topic when he
said whereas labor produces miracles for the rich, for the worker it produces
destitution. Labor produces palaces, but for the worker, hovels. (Marx 206) Do you
know who the worker is? Thats me. I am producing miracles for the rich and what
do I have? I have a hovel where I live and where I am currently writing this essay.
Im not saying that the conditions of my oppression are bad because theyre not.
My hovel is larger than those of the past, the food I am given is better, as well as
the treatment I receive, but still the price for my freedom seems unattainable and it
restricts me from grander or higher pursuits. I dont believe the business world and
our culture should operate in this way and neither did Gandhi. According to him,
The end to be sought is human happiness combined with full mental and moral
growth. I use the adjective moral as synonymous with spiritual. (Gandhi 215)
However the corporate world is being used as a means of control, and the improved
conditions that we are permitted are simply to keep us in a malleable state of
complacency.
You know what I would love to do tomorrow? I would love to go spend time
with my relatives or maybe go take a hike and enjoy the natural beauty of our
world. Do you know what Im actually going to do tomorrow? Im going to wake up,
go to school, take some finals, so that I can get a C or better, so that I can pass my
classes, so that I can get a degree. Why will I do this? Well because I have viewed
the pursuit of a business degree and starting my own business as a means of
freeing myself from this corporate machine. Despite feeling like a cog in a machine,
I have sought for and continue to seek for a life of freedom and a life of purpose. A
life where I might live without restrictions, without anything holding me back. I

want to know the truth about our world, about religion, and about our nature. This
knowledge that I have gained from this course has given me greater insight about
how our business world works and I find that information to be invaluable in the
pursuit of my goal. This is why I see the internalization of this knowledge as my
renaissance and a way to transition from my dark ages.