What "race" are they talking about?

[LonesomeLoser]

When I've said the kinds of things I say here in AOL chatrooms or Yahoo Answers or something, I've had some people say to me things like: if you want women to conform to your needs, stay home with mommy and get out of the "race". Or when I said in a chatroom that I prefer my life to be like: go to work, come home, eat, go on the internet/play video games, go to bed and do it again the next day, every day for the rest of my life. When I said that someone said "that's because you're only fit for a routine and not a 'race'".

Does anyone here refer to life or think of life as a "race"? I don't understand. A race to where, the grave? That's our final destination no matter what we accomplish. A race to where? A race to be the 1st to do what? Or is it just the "he who dies with the most toys wins" thing like on the bumper sticker? I've always been a bit on the timid side, and not at all competitive so whatever race they're talking about definitely isn't for me. I was just curious if anyone here calls life a race and if you do what do you mean?

 

[slaog]

The rat race where everybody goes out to earn as much money as possible and base their false happiness on that.

 

[Rex Man]

They're talking about Native Americans

 

[MooseGod]

Yes, it's the rat race. It's overrated. But then again, a lot of happiness comes from finding work that you enjoy--a career as opposed to a job.

It sounds like you have the right attitude for the most part--life isn't a race, and every moment isn't going to be a peak experience. But most people don't seem to get that in the information age--the media, and therefore the culture, want you to believe that unless you're driving an Escalade, lighting cigars with $100 bills, and dating supermodels then you're a loser.

You've been lied to. Throughout history, everybody's had it so bad they haven't had to worry about what others think, what they drive, and how rich they are--because they've been too busy trying to not get killed or starve to death. Our collective cultural unhappiness stems from having it so good--better than anybody has ever had it save for the bourgeoise society.

So what to do? Like I said, find meaningful work that you enjoy. That way you can't help but have the right attitude--be glad to simply go to work, come home, and relax--because you have a kickass career that you love. Who cares if some silly chicks don't like you, or some guy stares you down, or whatever else---you're still you, you still love your life, you have a reason to wake up each day, and everything else is trivial.

And remember, it's not so much what you do, but what kind of a spin you put on it. Instead of saying you just go to work, come home, goof off on the internet, and sleep, you could say you like to work hard, play hard, and you can sleep when you're dead. Sometimes you just have to tell people what they want to hear.

...Or you could just buy a Corvette like everyone else.