You come into this world,
You have your hands and your eyes and your ears and your brains,
Ready to watch and listen and learn and think and DO
You’ve some time for all those escapades, and then you’re going to die, and that’s the end of it,
You’re going to die and you know it — and you better make the most of the time you’ve left and energy that’s been given to you by god.
Should you sell out?
Don’t say no — because you will sell you — no matter what you say.
You will sell and buy things,
You will sell your time,
You will sell your energy,
You will sell your attention,
You will sell your hands or brains or other parts,
You will even sell your soul, mayhap,
But you will sell — in order to get,
Question is — what shall you sell?
It’s always easy to speak of virtue and honor,
Easier still when there is nothing to challenge it,
Perhaps you’ve nothing to sell, nothing to offer — and that’s why you “don’t sell out”,
You don’t sell yourself like those celebrities,
You “don’t slave”, like those greedy capitalists, don’t slave yourself or others,
You don’t sell your flesh like whores do,
You don’t sell your honor and break your word and lie and deceive, like those politicians do,
Perhaps you’re so virtuous — or perhaps you’re just no one.
Perhaps you’re just no one and no one wants your advice, no one wants your opinion, no one wants your flesh, no one wants your favor, and no one cares about your efforts.
You will sell, because you will trade,
You will DO THINGS to get things,
You will INVEST your precious time to get things,
You will pay in various ways for the things you want to get
It’s as easy to sell out as it is to NOT sell out,
It’s easy to not sell out when no one wants anything from you,
It’s easy to sell out when EVERYONE wants something from you,
Arguably it’s impossible to NOT sell out, given strong enough incentive. Your own morality and rationality will betray you,
Thankfully, most of us won’t be put to such terrible test,
Though perhaps it makes it even harder:
Sell-outs sell out instantly, worthless people have nothing to sell — yet you are left with this profound quandary,
How much do I want to sell? What do i want to get in return? How much is enough?
Just like any commodity — there are parts of you which are abundant, and parts of you which are utterly scarce.
Though your time is limited — you have many many many many hours to allot to different purposes
Not so many years mind you,
We always fail to find that single hour to do something useful — while we so easily give up year and then another, doing futile job we hate.
Same with your precious little ego,
You find it so hard to bear some necessary humiliation, some humbling innate to elevating oneself in any aspect — yet you fail to take pride in keeping your word, in doing the best work you can, in speaking the truth and truth only.
The world will forget all the small failures you traded for the abilities you acquired and leaps you’ve made — but it will not forget the times you failed to keep your word,
Some parts of you you can only sell once, you can only give up once
Some parts of you you can only sell once, you can only give up once,
You must know what you’re giving and what you’re getting.
Sometimes it may feel like a small price to pay — yet you will never be able to undo it.
Sometimes it may feel like a lot — yet the cost incurred is single and finite — and you make up for it with dividends.
Don’t say “I would never do it”,
Ask for the price.
Don’t say “I would never do it” — because almost always you would — depending on price.
If you truly don’t want to do it — then make sure that no one and no thing can afford you (doing it).
There are many things you’d do for a piece of bread, when you’re a hungry lowlife bum on the streets of some shithole, or a junkie that run out of his drug,
Best become un-buyable by becoming spiritually (and otherwise) abundant to the point where it’s difficult to offer you anything,
But you do have a price
You do have a price so know the price,
How much does your TIME cost?
How much does your HONOR cost?
How much does your WORD cost?
How much does your FLESH cost?
Learn it VERY well,
Consider which of those things are recoverable, and which are not
Consider the long term consequences of such trades
And even consider how you can NOT be in a position in which you would be “forced” to make some of those trades,
It’s as easy to NOT sell out as it is to sell out.
It’s more difficult to make a conscious, informed, independent decision
Everyone you know sells out every day — and most of them didn’t even ask for the price, didn’t even review the trade, the deal they got themselves into
Ask for the price and decide if it’s worth it
Last but not least: Beware of the hidden costs.
Your word once broken, your habits once abandoned, your standards once lowered, an exception once made…
…all those are notoriously difficult to recover ONCE they’ve been compromised. Such is the mysterious working of the MOMENTUM.
The consequences may appear short term, finite. There may appear to be no long-term consequences, no debt, no memory, no stain… ALAS there are also psychological consequences — and once you bent once, it is so much harder to get straight.
Traditions, religious commandments, superstitions, societal taboos — though appearing stupid on the surface — potentially hold deeper meaning then meets the eye. Their longevity speaks of their meaningfulness and utility.
I’m the last to recommend blind adherence to stupid rules.
However there are boundaries which are NOT meant to be crossed — as is ubiquitously taught passed in various religions and societal customs.
You can pass them.
Just know the price.
Chances are you don’t fully comprehend the costs.
If some primordial rule appears stupid to you — chances are it’s you whose too stupid to comprehend it.
FIND A BETTER TRADE. One without the hidden risk.
Hidden risk of compromising your dignity, resolve, motivation, life.
Ask for the price and find a better trade,
Find a better deal.
Concluding:
-Some have nothing to sell anyway
-Some have no choice but sell
-Most don’t even ASK THE PRICE, and get terrible deals
Many are unwilling to do certain things — failing to realize the tremendous return of investment they are getting
Quite like some cheap, promising companies are shunned by investors for no real reason.
Many are overpaying for the seemingly attractive offers – failing to notice the horrendous hidden costs.
Quite like investors during a bubble will somehow let the promises of future growth distract them from the ridiculously unrealistic valuations.
Most still are getting terrible deals they didn’t even consider at all.
I suppose it’s an equivalent of buying some stock because your neighbor did.
So should you sell out?
Yes of course. But ask for the price first. It doesn’t matter what you do — just know WHY you did it.
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