If everyone does what they love ...

... the economy will collapse tomorrow morning

That is pretty funny, and profound especially when you consider the source: Samantha Who?

Yes, that Christina Applegate sitcom, which has been in the rerun world for years now.

If only everyone does what they love, right?  Well, not those who love whacking others, but doing anything that is constructive and not destructive.

The novel coronavirus is compelling many people to question whether what they used to do--if they no longer have those jobs--or what they do is worth any damn thing.

With the pandemic canceling her opportunities for work, Connolly has been wondering why she never looked for fulfillment elsewhere. Now that work is no longer the defining force of her life, she’s taken to cooking for a local charity, but she’s also asking bigger, existential questions: “What are my hobbies? What makes me happy? What are my interests outside of my job now that I don’t have it anymore?” 

Long time readers of this blog, including the awful tRump and mOdi toadies who even used to post comments here, know all too well that I have been blogging about these forever.  It is awful that it has taken the COVID-19 tragedy for people to question what was previously taken for granted.

It is not often in life we are in situations when work is hobby and hobby is work and we love what we do. It is extremely rare.

More often than not, people end up doing whatever they can in order to earn their paychecks, and then drive around with "I would rather be fishing" bumper stickers.  "For the sake of the stomach, many acts do we put on" is how an old Sanskrit translates to in English.

As I have noted many times in the past, most of what we do are bullshit jobs.  The anthropologist who gave me/us that phrase, David Graeber, has more to offer in the age of the coronavirus:

The coronavirus, and resulting lockdowns, is teaching us an even more startling lesson: that a very large portion of what we call “the economy” is little more than just another scam.

It's hard to know what else to conclude when literally millions of highly paid office workers have been forced to stay away from the office, to reduce their work to 10 or 15 minutes a day, or often nothing at all, without having the slightest impact on those essential functions that keep the public fed, clothed, distracted and alive

He notes there:

Let’s perform a thought experiment. What if we conceived “the economy” not as a market but as the way we human beings take care of one another, by providing each other with material needs and the basis for satisfying, meaningful lives.

Here is to hoping that in the post-pandemic world a lot more people would get to do what they love.