Objectivism and the Plight of the Worker

When one applies Objectivism to the workforce, you see quite a few of the usual suspects:

The Figurehead: The top rung; the CEO. The One who usually gets paid the most for doing the least amount of work. Usually thinks firmly about him/herself, which epitomizes why they are there in the first place.

The Appeasers: The Higher level workers who feed pleasantries and lies to the CEO and the rest of the company, including their peers. They usually conspire, together, to continue in mediocrity.

The Middle: Those who are stagnant in their positions, and have no ambition to continue anywhere past the "comfortable" place they are at now. They usually can be seen giving each other hugs and planning inane office birthday parties.

The "Help": Those who are responsible for a clean and glistening workplace. Work for nothing but a paycheck - no passion, no love, no intelligence. They are simply there as proverbial "shoe-shine boys", making the other workers feel superior.

The Bottom: Those workers who are just starting out. They are categorized by their ruthless work ethic, their drive to exceed and their sight - which is firmly planted on the top, The Figurehead.

That is a little portrait I like to call: The Vicious Levels of the Common Workplace.

And what do we see? We see that the levels that have the most in common are, as follows: The Figurehead/The Bottom and the Middle Three - The Appeasers, The Middle and The "Help"!

The similarities in the middle group are very glaring. The middle three are characterized by a certain complacence for the mediocre: wanting to stay in the same place and not striving for the best in their lives. Sadly, they have become comfortable with a stagnant, boring and unfulfilled life. They are simply unwilling to accept change for the better.

The similarities in the top and bottom are even more apparent. They share a drive for betterment - a certain lust for striving towards their own selves, and the eventual successful status of their lives. The Bottom are eventually what become The Figureheads.

Sometimes you can start life at the bottom, keep moving up and decide you're happy in the middle. That's when the stench of Collectivism rears its ugly odor. You become aware of your fellow man and don't want to show that you crave success, so, you let yourself become happy with the mediocre.

Objectivism is seen in The Figureheads and The Bottom. They both work for the betterment of the Self. Even a CEO wants more - more money, more knowledge, more success. They never stop working to achieve all they want in life. The Bottom have that drive also, but they have a taller ladder to climb. With that intense drive, they work their way up the ladder of the workplace faster than their co-workers.

I, myself, am a part of The Bottom. I am a personal assistant to a music professor at a small community college. I work every day, honing my skills and learning the ins and outs of the music business. I know that what I am learning now will translate to success later in life, because of my dedication and zeal for the work. I work every day, not for the betterment of my peers (even though I do help them quite a bit in their daily lives, because of a generous streak I inherited from my Mother's side of the family), and therefore my drive increases as I see fellow men and women become stagnant in their stale careers and boring lives.

An example: There is quite a bit of summer work to do in our little division. It is substantial and can be seen as quite a bit of work for one person to do. There are actually three workers working from different divisions on this project, but we all handle our own business. My boss asked me whether I would like a helper to be hired to assist me in my own personal divisional work. I knew this certain helper he had suggested, and knew what kind of lazy person they were. So, therefore, I politely declined the help. If one is to prove themselves in this life, you have to know when to deny help when their true self knows that they have the strength within to succeed on their own.

I do.  

Objectivism has been driving me to delve even deeper into myself, and I have been discovering even more ways in which I can better my own self, so that my work does not define me: It betters me. I put myself in a position to learn from the best, and to use their knowledge for myself.

An Objectivist will not work as others do; they will work for themselves. They will not be happy just living and thriving in a communal workplace; they will seek seclusion, to work in the peace they so deserve to succeed. They will discover the inner secrets of the workplace, and use them to their advantage.

So many people work just to work. They don't feel fulfilled in the slightest: They just want their meager paycheck. They are fine sitting in one place and wondering and dreaming about what might be at the top.

Me: I look at the top and I say: "That's mine."

A Summer of Objectivism: An Introduction

"I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." - Ayn Rand
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     When one chooses to live and strive towards a certain philosophical idea, one has to be truly certain that this is something that they want to devote their lives to.
     Far too often, people are simply too gung-ho and devote themselves to something that they have no idea about, simply because it seems appealing at the moment. That is something very dangerous to do.
     When you are born, you are born with a blank philosophical canvas. Thus, we foolishly believe, it is up to our parents, family and other "people" to teach us what to believe, so we can obtain a philosophy and a moral code of Ethics that, supposedly, "fits us." Though this may seem like a inevitability of life, that is as far from the truth as we can get.
     As children, we are hand-fed not only food by our families, but beliefs - ideas - life values. We are almost forced to believe something that we may not truly embrace, simply because the "group" of our families suggest we believe something. We may love our families, as I do, but we had to admit that every person has a flawed ego. We are subject to the same maladies of the soul and the same prejudices. My family, like many, are flawed, as am I. But I would rather be flawed in making a decision for myself, than having a group of equally-flawed people choose one for me.
     To obtain a philosophy that is close to our hearts, we must first, and only, look within ourselves. What do we believe? What is certain in our lives? How do we love? How do we hate? How do we live? How do we breathe?
     We have to thoroughly vet our own lives, before we can decide upon a life philosophy that fits us like a well-tailored glove.

     So, how then did it come to pass that I chose to embrace the philosophy of Objectivism? (Disclaimer: I have just started to study this philosophy and have no delved deeply into the minute specifics - most of my decision was based on general ideas, at this stage.)
     I chose Objectivism because I have always lived life for my own self-interest. Growing up through school, I always worked for my own happiness. Everyone else ran into groups, but I always preferred the "self" moments - sitting there reflecting, rather than boisterously running with the group. Throughout high school, I felt exactly the same way. I never sacrificed my ethics for a friend, or even let alone a girl, as so many of randy and suspicious male friends did. I always striven for the path of my own ethics and my own value code.
     Objectivism is a philosophy created by novelist Ayn Rand, who wrote such classic novels as The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. I will not try and force the entirety of Objectivism into this one blog. The main focus of Objectivism is a focus on "The Self" - ourselves; our own personal selves. It involves a person living for their own "rational self-interest" as Rand puts it, rather than the interests of "The Group", which is a term that includes the entirety of the human race as a whole. It wholly focuses on a person loving themselves and striving for their own goals and ethics, above all else.

     This is why I have chosen to embrace Objectivism: because I have always loved myself and I have always worked towards my own goals, regardless of what the group has said.
     Early on, when I wanted to become an actor, "The Group" said - "No! You'll never amount to anything!"
     When I wanted to become a Lutheran Pastor, "The Group" said - "You're too flawed to devote your life to God!
     Even now, while I am striving to become a professional opera performer, "The Group" has said - "You'll never find any work! You'll end up working at McDonald's!"
     Finally, I said, "Enough!" I then decided to devote my life to what made my "Self" happy, and not "The Group."
     Objectivism is my answer to the problems of the world. How can one be wrong, if we only truly embrace our own ethical code? It's amazing to think that those old prejudicial "flaws" we are taught by society are "wrong" could really be embraced as a part of our lives as a positive trait! It's freeing to know that I can choose my own ethical code, even if that may mean embracing an idea that is traditionally seen as "wrong."

     In these next few weeks and months, I will detail my life of living as a full-fledged Objectivist.
     Time willing, I will catalog what I did that day, and how my Objectivist beliefs played into those decisions.
      Hopefully by this, you will learn something about what it means for a person to live for their own interests, and how you can apply that to your own life, even if you don't ever plan on becoming an Objectivist!
     We can all learn something about living to make ourselves happy, in ways we never thought possible.
      Because,

To Fully Live our Lives, We Must Live for Ourselves in Life, Love and Work.