March 1, 2012 - Ambition Island

"It was true that I didn't have much ambition, but there ought to be a place for people without ambition, I mean a better place than the one usually reserved. How in the hell could a man enjoy being awakened at 6:30 a.m. by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit, piss, brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots of money for somebody else and were asked to be grateful for the opportunity to do so?" - Charles Bukowski

From someone who operates well only when there is routine, planning, and self-direction, this quote is difficult to grasp. Regardless, I cant help but to grapple with the concept. An ambition-less society. Full of crooks who are too lazy to steal, gamblers confused by counting, bachelors who never bothered to get a bachelors degree, prostitutes who find thongs and tight clothing uncomfortable, and drunks who complain about the time it takes to get drunk. For some reason this island looks like the reject pile at a Chinese shoe assembly sweatshop, or the scene from Fear and Loathing where sloppy dinosaurs stumble around a shattered casino.

Despite my apparent negativity, I am not convinced myself whether a place like this should or should not exist. I could be thinking of just the negative aspects; a series of ill mannered fools commiserating around a gas grill for heat. They'd be acting out Lord of the Flies, stomping their feet and inevitably eating each other due to the lack of knowledge and desire to hunt for other options. However, it very well could be more comparable to a commune of "huggers," who just don't care about one-upping each other because they purely lack ambition. They carry on with their everyday lives, no stock market, no idolized Warren Buffet, just Tom, Dick, and Harry. Three people who did, or did not come from money in their family with only the accomplishment of living another day as a hurdle.

A book I read not too long ago called Ishmael talked about how indigenous people, and many Native American tribes are predicted to last much longer than any of us "civilized folk." The authors basic point is that we will just continue to attempt to beat out the next person until we are thrust into a Hobbesian nightmare; "All men are at war until regulated, or there are laws." We have been working for years to keep total warfare from happening. I know, its hard to believe with a different conflict starting each day. But that is the thing, are we moving backwards, by progressing the way we do? Is it possible that we will all kill each other off one day? Quite. That may be rash, and we are talking thousands of years in the future, unless some Gore global warming kills us first. It is just that the more I think about it, an island full of people who lack any desire to become better than they inherently are, seems pretty harmless, and safer than the rest of the world.

So here's a drink to lack of ambition. Let us live longer, happier, simpler, and drunker lives.
- R. Christopher