In the days of slavery, dark complexioned slaves were put to work on cotton farms while light skinned slaves were handpicked to work in the "Massa's" house. Sometimes the females were made unofficial concubines to the Master of the house. House slaves enjoyed privileges field slaves did not enjoy such as better living quarters, food, clothing and sometimes education. Field slaves on the other hand had poorer living conditions and were hard worn for all the arduous labour on the field. So if you were an African slave in the Americas at that time, you would have longed for the day when the Master would call you into the house to serve as a house slave. As nice as it would have seemed to become a house slave at the end of the day, a house slave was still considered as much a slave as a field slave.
Why am I writing about slavery? I see an analogy between slavery and employment. Most employee are slaves as long as they remain in employment. You have little or no control over your time and resources. You are paid whatever the Master wants you to earn (the Master in this case being your employer). You are also subject to other masters like the Government, Tax authorities and other bodies that have a claim on your salary whether you like it or not. You temporarily surrender your vision and time to your employer and adopt your employer's vision and time.
Employees that work in good paying jobs such as Oil and Gas, Banking and Telecoms may be considered house slaves as they are better paid while most civil servants may be considered as house slaves. A lot of people dream of working in Oil and Gas companies with the hope of a brighter future. All you are doing is moving from the field to the house albeit still as a slave. You could also argue that senior and executive management staff are house slaves while junior personnel are field slaves. But at the end of the day, they are all slaves.
I know this line of thought seems extreme but it's closer to the truth than you think. An employer can summarily dismiss you without any explanation even after serving for 20 years. That isn't freedom. That's slavery. So what's the alternative to this form of modern day slavery?
Self-employment. The Forbes list of the world's richest men doesn't have any employees because you can never be richer than your employer. Take a look at your CEO today... go on take a look because that's as rich as you will ever be doing that same job. So am I saying, quit your job and start your own business right away? No, but we all need to think about it at some time or the other and have a plan for doing this.
As for me, the countdown has begun.
Why am I writing about slavery? I see an analogy between slavery and employment. Most employee are slaves as long as they remain in employment. You have little or no control over your time and resources. You are paid whatever the Master wants you to earn (the Master in this case being your employer). You are also subject to other masters like the Government, Tax authorities and other bodies that have a claim on your salary whether you like it or not. You temporarily surrender your vision and time to your employer and adopt your employer's vision and time.
Employees that work in good paying jobs such as Oil and Gas, Banking and Telecoms may be considered house slaves as they are better paid while most civil servants may be considered as house slaves. A lot of people dream of working in Oil and Gas companies with the hope of a brighter future. All you are doing is moving from the field to the house albeit still as a slave. You could also argue that senior and executive management staff are house slaves while junior personnel are field slaves. But at the end of the day, they are all slaves.
I know this line of thought seems extreme but it's closer to the truth than you think. An employer can summarily dismiss you without any explanation even after serving for 20 years. That isn't freedom. That's slavery. So what's the alternative to this form of modern day slavery?
Self-employment. The Forbes list of the world's richest men doesn't have any employees because you can never be richer than your employer. Take a look at your CEO today... go on take a look because that's as rich as you will ever be doing that same job. So am I saying, quit your job and start your own business right away? No, but we all need to think about it at some time or the other and have a plan for doing this.
As for me, the countdown has begun.
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