I used to wonder why Zaibatsu bothered with a customs
chamber, which seemed like a waste of resources considering
the kind of beings that inhabited the place. The concept
bothered me in a marginal sort of way, so that I would bring
it up at parties and bars, making myself even more of a
pariah than I was normally.
Thankfully for my social life, I found the answer while on
my eternal quest to explore the infinite mysteries of the
universe (a trip that I would recommend to anyone.) The
Presence didn't understand exactly why I cared so much, but
was quite content to help me discover even this trivially
bit of information.
There is a planet who's name sounds like "Rak-mu-taaak"
(with a very guttural and prolonged "taaak" at the end)
which is the native home of a small creature that has no
known official name. It is affectionately known as a "rat
crab" by many a scoundrel space traveler or practical joker.
It may have had an official name at one point, but having
killed and eaten every other sentient life form on its home
planet, no definite information could be had on the subject.
For those who are unfamiliar with the rat crab, three
defining characteristics will sufficiently inform. Firstly,
the rat crab has a hard shell and scurries about in a
omni-directional fashion, often from side-to-side, which is
where it gets the crab part of its name. Second, the rat
crab reproduces at an alarming rate, with a gestation period
of only 12 earth seconds, and tends to infest, which is
where it gets the rat part of its name. And third, the rat
crab is excessively myopic with a long and detailed memory;
it is short-sighted and long-retentive.
When I say that the rat crab is myopic I do mean in the
ocular sense, but it's also myopic in the mental sense. If
you kick or nudge a rat crab by accident, it will only see
that your left shoe has kicked nor nudged it, and it will
always remember that particular left shoe and the pain it
caused. If, in the future, that particular rat crab
encounters that particular left shoe again, it will become
quite aggressive. However, if in the same future, that
particular rat crab were by chance to encounter the same
being's right shoe, it would have no ill feelings toward
either the being or the right shoe.
The rat crab has no concept of categories. It doesn't hate
all left shoes, any left feet, or people that possess
either. The rat crab also has no concept of the whole and
the parts; the left shoe was acting alone in its unprovoked
aggression, and alone deserves the retribution; the foot
and the being are guiltless.
As I hinted earlier, rat crabs are real favorites with
practical jokers, and a breeding pair will fetch an
enormous price in the black market just for their comedic
potential. Once such a joker gets a colony established, the
running gag is to purchase a pair of shoes and proceed to
kick as many rat crabs as possible with them. Then, once a
large amount of rat crab ill-will has been established
toward both the left and the right shoes, the joker will
sell or gift the "practically new" shoes to an unsuspecting
visitor, tourist, or newcomer.
The joker will get a few proletarian associates and
the rabble will follow the newcomer around until the
unsuspecting fool encounters an angry rat crab, and another,
and eventually a whole gaggle, until they are completely
overcome by the vengeful pests. The rat crabs will have
their way, and the joker and his friends will have a laugh
and then go celebrate their farce with a local beverage.
Of course, you can readily see why this little beast has
become 82.5% of the reason for all intergalactic customs
chambers. Zaibatsu, with all of its problems, did not need
these myopic, overly-discriminating, malevolent creatures.
And who could trust sundogs, defectors, traitors, exiles,
and outlaws not to bring them in?
***
I was chatting with my wife last night about a few things,
and I got to thinking about wholes and parts and myopia.
Quite specifically, we were chatting about life, and houses,
and necessities, and wants, and- in a disjointed way-
careers.
I'll attempt to draw it with ASCII, to illustrate:
Here you can plainly see the relationship between shelter,
food, clothing, and perhaps other miscellaneous necessities.
They are in the same overall container. You can also
see that "wants," while not essential, are almost fully
integrated with the necessities, so much so that only a
flimsy row of hyphens separates them.
Why is the career not considered a part of the whole? Can
the parts in this picture exist on their own?
Like the rat crab, I think we're often myopic in regards to
our jobs and the pain they cause us. The left shoe of our
boss or our salary or our "job satisfaction" kicks us,
and we hold an eternal grudge, eventually extracting our
revenge. We don't understand that our career is part of a
whole, not some disjointed satellite in our lives.
Here's another picture in HD ASCII:
+------------------+
| Career |
+------------------+
| House | Food |
| +---------+
| | Clothes |
+ +---------+
| | Etc. |
+------------------+
| Wants |
+------------------+
(Figure 2)
Admit it, this one makes a lot more sense. The career is
what provides us with money, which in turn provides us with
a home, clothing, food, and any number of necessities. If
there are dollars/rubles/yen/etc left over, then we might
also get some of our wants.
Can you attack the career without attacking everything else?
Let's say there is a theoretical person named "Jack." Jack
doesn't like his career much, but it is what it is, and he's
spent a fair amount of time building it up. He makes a
decent living, and has been able to eat good food, wear
good clothes, and buy a 3br 2ba house with 2000sqft and
wall-to-wall carpeting.
One day, Jack gets angry and decides that he wants a new
career. Of all his options, he decides wildly to choose a
path with some risks. It may not pay as much. It might take
a while to get established. Jack goes ahead with his plan,
and gives his career the boot.
But Jack, being the fool that he is, didn't really think
about the fact that when he kicked his career, he was also
kicking the rest of his situation. He sold his house, and
had to purchase a smaller 2br 2ba 1000sqft with old wood
floors and area rugs. He had to buy non-organic produce, and
clothing from a thrift store. And that fancy computer he
wanted had to wait for an undetermined amount of time to be
purchased.
I'm getting tired of writing about Jack, because Jack
doesn't represent the way I think or feel at all. But, he
does represent parts and wholes and myopia, which is what I
wanted to get to.
My career is not a disjointed part of my role as a provider,
it is a huge part of the whole of that role. Everything that
I can provide is inextricably linked to my job. If there is
a roof, a shirt, or a sandwich, it is because I worked and
got paid and bought those things. This is not a complaint- I
feel enormously blessed that I can provide for my family. It
fills me with a bliss that is hard to describe just to
provide for the people I love.
But, my role is not to provide any particular luxury, it is
to provide necessities, and health, and safety. My role is
to ensure that my career is stable and long-lasting enough
to do that for as long as is necessary for my family.
I'm not like Jack. Heck, I don't even like wall-to-wall
carpet. The only thing I have in common with Jack, I think,
is that I dislike the career I've chosen and developed.
Unlike Jack, I don't blame a boss (I'm self-employed), or an
industry, or even the job. I blame myself, and just want a
change.
Also unlike Jack, I realize that my situation in life is
entirely linked to my job (see Figure 2.) If I want a change
in my job, I'm going to have to accept a change in my life,
and I'm going to have to convince everyone that depends on
me to accept a change as well. That's not easy, because I
think a lot of times we feel like the career and the "rest"
are not one in the same (see Figure 1.)
Having talked about it last night, I woke up thinking about
it this morning, and it has been nice to get it out of my
head so that I can begin to understand it a bit more. The
rat crabs were just analogous and hopefully a fun way of
introducing the idea.
