DO WHAT IT IS YOU LOVE DOING

Do you have the guts to follow your dream?

I have seen this video posted several times and to be honest, I love it every time! I love it because it is empowering. The idea that we could and SHOULD do whatever it is we love doing seams almost foreign to a lot of us, at least it is at times for me. I mean really, how am I supposed to put food on the table if all I want to do is ride horses, or go cliff jumping, or whatever it is I love doing? Those things don't make me money . . . right?

Let us say I have to work a job I don't exactly love because it pays me money. After all, I do need money to survive. This job that I have is what society deems worthy of pay, not some random "hobby". I might think that society says these hobbies definitely don't get payed like a doctor or something. Hobbies are just that, a hobby, only to be done for pleasure in one's "free time".

The Dilemma 
You see, in a capitalistic society we don't exactly have the benefit of being given all of the resources we need to survive. We have to work for them on our own. If we were given all the needed resources then we could definitely put in all the time we wanted to doing whatever it is we love doing. So why don't we just set up a system where everyone is given everything equally so we can start focussing on doing those things we love doing? We could finally live the utopian dream and have all in common and would have the freedom TO DO WHATEVER IT IS WE LOVE DOING! Now I am just getting redundant. . . Well guess what? This was already attempted and it failed.

Some countries have tried to set up what they thought was a Marxist system, which despite my lack of expertise when it comes to politics, I know at least that they strove for such a system for whatever the reason. I can still see the bright side of the theories that Marx gave. It really is a beautiful idea to be able to have all in common with our resources. But the countries that tried this skipped a crucial step and that is partly why the system failed. They skipped capitalism. Though the capitalistic system may seem to stifle our creativity and our freedom to be able to follow our passion and dreams (because we HAVE to make money to survive), it is actually necessary step toward reaching the all-in-common system.

The solution
Capitalism sparks competition for scarce resources. We are always trying to be better than the next in order to keep our incomes flowing. If we fail to be better than the next than we will be run out of business and left destitute. Because of this competition we improve our technologies, and by improving our technologies we improve productivity. Because productivity increases more and more with the passing years we provide more resources to the general population. Now whether or not those resources actually get sent to the general populace is a whole other story. However, in only production terms, look for example at the production of something so ordinary as the world wheat production:

And just so you can see the little red line from the first graph about the yield, here it is on a smaller scale:

1/ Aggregated based on local marketing years. Latest data may be preliminary or projected. 2/ Excludes intra-European Union trade. Source: USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service, Production, Supply, and Distribution Database.

Years are from 1993-2011 As you can see, from 1993 till now almost the same amount of area is being harvested but the yield and production has gone up significantly. In summation, we need this system in order to get to the point where we will have the means to provide for all. When that time comes when all can be provided for, we will have much more time to do what we want. So what do we do until then? This by no means says that we all have to just keep on doing the things we don't like doing. On the contrary, capitalism can actually provide an environment of creativity to help us do the things we love doing. However, it will be a balancing act at times in in many cases, where we balance the need for resources and doing what we love. In other words, we will in some cases need to balance work we don't like to get the money we need in order to then do what we love doing. In some peoples case, they are lucky enough to have a job that allows both. Granted there are those little things about every job that we don't like (perhaps the bureaucracy) but hey, at least some people found a job they enjoy and they make money for doing it. Just because people may say that you cant make money doing what you love, look at it this way, if you really love doing what you do, you will find a way to make money from it one way or another. That is all part of having a passion for it, you will want to continue to do it and will have to make the means to keep doing it somehow.