Back-to-school season is upon us. In my
school days I was adept at absorbing, regurgitating and manipulating the
information that was put before me. That
is to say that schoolwork and making grades came relatively easy for me.
But I was also lazy as well as practical. Good grades were not particularly important for
me but I also knew that my parents would be dissatisfied with anything less
than a B in each class. Therefore,
at the onset of each semester I made it my business to study the syllabus and
determine the minimal effort required to attain the parent-pleasing B grade.
For better or worse, I carried this attitude over into adult
life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no
bum. However, it was never my ambition
to be the tycoon, superstar or master of the universe. I am not a big risk taker. But I am glad that others are.
I am thankful that there are intelligent, ambitious and adventurous
individuals who create businesses and amass wealth. I do not envy them a bit. In fact, I love them because they provide me
with the opportunity to serve them, to put in honest day’s work and to earn a
comfortable living. This is how
capitalism works for B students, for second tier players like me.
In fact, capitalism also finds places for C, D and F
students as well.
In 1988, the Minneapolis punk-band, The Replacements, was
opening for Keith Richards on his solo tour.
At the time I remember reading an interview with Replacements’ front
man, Paul Westerberg. The Replacements were
notorious for their drunken back-stage and on-stage escapades. Westerberg,
himself a high school dropout, said in the interview that their heroes had
always been screw-ups. It was to this
poor choice of role models that he attributed the band’s antics.
However capitalism served this band of drunken, punk
screw-ups well. Capitalist entrepreneurs
who owned night clubs, who owned concert halls and arenas, who owned recording
studios, record labels and radio stations gave the Replacements a platform to
ply their art and take their shot at fame and fortune.
Capitalism is not just for the rich, powerful, ambitious or “greedy”. Because of Capitalism, these go-getters open the
door to the good life for the great unwashed including myself, garage rockers and
slacker punks everywhere.
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Half the people are drowned and the other half are swimming in the wrong direction."
- Paul Simon
Half the people are drowned and the other half are swimming in the wrong direction."
- Paul Simon
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