I've realised recently that most of my posts that are not about football are the kind of posts other fellow (chauvinist) bloggers and I like to scoff at; very personal, and senti... maybe. it just occurred to me that this is the only fully formed idea in my head right now, but since I've started writing, I might as well ramble on for a bit.
Have i talked about the paradox of the kind of jobs compared to the kind of life one might want for themselves? I don't think I have. Well its like this, for the sake of making this post more tangible to my general audience, I'll localise my references and analogies to Pakistan. So, in Pakistan, all men work all their lives tirelessly. We're a lazy people, but that's only when you compare us to the rest of the world. We work to get a good job, a good job pays well, more money means you can put a price tag on yourself, good price tag means you don't have to care about the person you are, and also, a good price tag means a good wife, good wife takes your bullshit, forever, and gives you a lot of babies (quite possibly because your mother wants to be a grandmother). The fact that I can sum up the average Pakistani households' story while I'm only just rambling is sad in itself.
So, the paradox, rather, the dilemma is that what if you don't agree with some (or most) of the things mentioned above? What if blasphemous thoughts like liking what you do and caring if your wife actually has a personality (which, you probably wont be able to "control") keep popping into your head? What if you're okay with not having as much money as you could have doing a job you don't really like, but doing something you actually like doing? I realise that last one was a cliche, and a very used one at that, but those are real questions! The thing is that most people don't try to be overtly bold or ambitious because they feel like they'll miss out on something, and the fact of the matter is that they will.
Its a different life that way, and what one has to realise is that, excluding exceptions, no one gets to have the best of both worlds (cliche again, sorry). Its just like religion, you cannot be all like "..so, fine, I don't pray five times a day, but I'm still as good a muslim as anybody else!..." and expect that to be true, you could be a good person, but not a good Muslim unless you do all those little Muslim things you're supposed to do. Its as simple as that. I was talking to this guy and he was all like- is this alright? is this alright that someone just comes along and tells you whats right and wrong, and you just believe it, and do whatever is considered right? is it alright being a conformist?- and I was like- yea i guess, if you believe in it enough, anything is fine, atleast for your mental health and self preservation if you're completely convinced about it.
It all comes down to staying happy. The pursuit of happiness. I guess its about convincing yourself of something completely, because the longer one is conflicted about what they want, or what they believe in, the longer they're prone to be a victim of chronic unhappiness ('avazaari' explains the sentiment a little better), and nobody likes a sad-sack y'know!
