Commentary

Making a life

JACKASS SEY DE worl' no level. Jackass sey society is a ting whe try shape people eena mediacrity an den reward de people dem whe no gwaan like whe dem sey dem fi gwaan.

Have you ever wondered how comes nurses and teachers, policemen and firemen and even jackasses get so little pay for the hard work that they do, while entertainers and sports people are so highly paid (the successful ones, at least, because dog nyam the supper of those who do not make the big times).

Check it; every nine to five job, as people like to call those jobs that carry set working hours, carry much less pay than the effort that is put into them or what the work is really worth, while the things that people are taught are hobbies in school, like playing a musical instrument or running really fast are what bring in the real money.

And real money means not just getting enough to survive from paycheck to paycheck and staying two payments ahead of a wrecker pulling up at your gate for the trus' cyar. (An' yu know sey di wickedes' ting a sey afta dem tek de cyar put pan wrecka back a yu same one haffi go fin' money fi pay de wrecka fee, like sey yu an tow truck a fren. Cause if yu did ave money fi mek de cyar payment eena de fus' place, yu woulden get entangle wid de wrecka man, no so?)

But going through school, the taking up of these high-paying hobbies is not encouraged. In fact, in many cases, sports and music and acting are seen as the pastimes of the dunce and even now there are few high schools where the top athletes are also academically gifted. (One of the exceptions that Jackass has heard of is a school high in the hills of St. Elizabeth, the mystic, magical, legendary Munro College. And one of the worst is that purple deadhouse on North Street).

At the end of the day, it is those who pursue their 'hobbies' who end up with the major contracts and their faces on billboards in multiple life size, saying 'b this' and 'b that', while the people who did all they were told in school, hustle for a space on the bus.

The world is not level at all, because the education system (if it can be called that) prepares people to be employees, not owners of their own businesses, whether that be large or small. But it is largely those who look outside that system, even those who take in all the lessons that are taught and mistaught in schools but look beyond them and build on them, who are the ones who really make a mark and are rewarded handsomely for it.

There is a difference between making a living and making a life. Making a living is doing enough to get by, while making a life is doing what you really want to do and making money from it. In the schools, we teach too much about making a living, instead of making a life.

Jackass sey di worl' no level. Jackass sey people fe try dem bes' at wha dem waan do, as long as dem no dis or hurt or depen pon no one.