Worthwhile

What do you have to do to justify your existence?  

Is it enough to merely awake and perform the usual human functions?  Or do you have to make the world a better place and leverage disruptive technologies or something like that in order to count as a human being?

I was raised by ambitious parents who inculcated in me the message that “You are what you do.”  Consequently, the less I do, the less I am.  And if I don’t do anything, then, well, I’m nothing.

Sartre made a similar point: since we’re condemned to be free, then we have no excuse for not being the person we want to be and the only way to do that is through one’s actions.  If I claim to be a poet, but never write poetry because I’m too busy making a living as a waiter, then I’m acting in bad faith, which is another of saying I’m just a poseur, a wannabe poet who isn’t a poet at all.

If I write a short essay every day, does that make me a writer?  Perhaps, but perhaps just a lazy one.

If I cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner, am I therefore a cook?  Maybe, but maybe just a hungry one.

When I do math, am I a mathematician?  When I philosophize, am I a philosopher?  When I waste time scrolling around the internet, I’m a loser, aren’t I?

If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem; not being anti-racist is racist, for sure.  But can’t a person be good enough simply by not being bad?

Think of all the things you didn’t do today: steal candy from a baby; start World War III; stick a piece of chewed gum underneath a table at the library.  Those ought to count for something, shouldn’t they?

Sure, I’m just taking up space on the planet, but it’s a nice little space, which is plenty enough for today, all right?