思考与写作lettersofnote.com
“人们就这样被掏空”
“People simply empty out”
2013 — 2019，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这个页面来自 Letters of Note，收录了查尔斯·布考斯基的一封信，标题取自信中“People simply empty out”一句。信里谈的是工作与谋生如何让人逐渐失去生气、变得空洞，带有布考斯基一贯的尖锐和悲观。
为什么经久不衰：布考斯基对“为了工资慢慢耗尽自己”的直白观察，至今仍戳中每个在职业轨道和生活意义之间挣扎的人。
HN 评论精选
事业成功不等于人生丰富，别忘记体验生活本身。
我觉得太多人被“推进事业”的念头吸进去了，以至于忘了推进自己的人生。如果我们一直没空去体验存在本身，那存在又有什么意义？兰迪·波许说过：“临终时我们后悔的不是做过的事，而是没做的事。”
blackhole查看英文原文
I feel like too many people get sucked into the idea of furthering their career, to the point that they forget to further their own life. What is the point of existence if we never get around to experiencing it? "It's not the things we do in life that we regret on our death bed, it is the things we do not." - Randy Pausch
消费主义把工作变成月供循环，应追求财务自由以思考。
如今太多人工作是为了维持“生活方式”，而不是维持生活本身。人们为了继续支付月供而工作：房子比需要的大、车子比需要的豪华，却因为总在朝九晚五而无法真正享受这些东西。和50年前相比我们进步很多：人们不再在工厂里为糊口而工作，而是在办公室里为下一辆新车或大屏幕电视付钱。我的目标是尽快赚到尽可能多的钱，不是为了成为下一个亿万富翁，而是为了停止工作、成为下一个伟大的思考者。我看重知识和幸福胜过金钱。
Casseres查看英文原文
Today, too many people have jobs to support their lifestyles, not their lives. People end up working to continue making monthly payments on houses larger than they need, cars fancier than they need, and they won't be able to fully enjoy those things because they're always working 9-5. Today, we are a lot further along than we were 50 years ago. People aren't working in factories to put bread on the table, people are working in offices to pay for their next new car or big screen TV. My goal is to make as much money as I can as fast as I can so that instead of trying to become the next billionaire, I can stop working and become the next great thinker. I value knowledge and happiness over money.
为生存被迫工作并非真正自由，只能换雇主。
有些人排斥“工资奴隶”这个说法，主要是觉得它和传统奴隶制差别太大，不该这么叫。但问题是：如果你做某件事，而替代选择是饿死和死亡，你真的自由吗？想一会儿答案就很清楚：你不自由。当然，你有从一个奴隶主换到另一个奴隶主的自由，但整个过程中你从未拥有真正的自由。
enraged_camel查看英文原文
>>You know my old saying, "Slavery was never abolished, it was only extended to include all the colors." Some people balk at the idea of "wage slavery," primarily because they think it is so different from the traditional slavery that it should not be called that. But the question is, if you are doing something and the alternative is starvation and death, are you really a free human being? If you think about it for a while, the answer becomes clear: you are not free. Sure, you have the freedom to switch from one slave-owner to another, but at no point in the process do you have real freedom.
劝年轻人别让生活成本随收入膨胀，把精力投给真正热爱的事，而不是只为工资做不认同的工作。
我常想，有多少做普通工作的人觉得自己只用了10%的能力？我现在正努力重返企业界，复习 Python、Ruby、Elixir 等过去十年用过的语言，只为向公司证明我能做他们的活。但内心我知道，99%是为了钱。只因为我过去没有全力冲出去追梦（试过一次，大概只用了90%的努力，失败了）。我一位朋友兼咨询老板曾说：“我不在乎做什么工作，那只是日间工作，是钱。”就像那些能在 Tinder 上一次次约炮而毫无负担的人，我有时也希望自己像他们。但当你真正在乎某些东西时，它就会缠住你；而你所在乎的东西只是一个大机器里一两个不值得支持的齿轮时，你就是在为工资慢慢死去。我给年轻人的建议（入职头五年）：除非你想当老板，或想在五大（或四大？）咨询公司之一苦干12年以上，否则永远不要提高个人生活成本，而应专注做你热爱的事，别管钱。你可能发现自己处在令人羡慕的位置：做热爱的事带来意外之财（比如被谷歌收购），或者至少能让你一边旅行一边每月有5千多美元收入……
blunte查看英文原文
Sometimes I do wonder... how many people I see with regular jobs feel like they are using 10% of their abilities at those jobs? At this very moment I am making an effort to re-enter the corporate world... studying Python or Ruby or Elixir any of the other 5 languages I have used in the last 10 years to convince a company that I can do their work. But inside, I know I'm doing it 99% for the money. It's only because I didn't run the gauntlet in the past and strike out on my dreams with 150% effort (I tried once, at probably 90% effort. I failed.) I had a friend and consulting boss who once told me, "I don't care what work I do; it's just a day job, and it's money." And as with people who can happily do hookup after hookup on Tinder, I sometimes wish I were like them. But when you really care about shit, it ties you up. And when the stuff you care about is just one or two cogs in a big machine that isn't really worth supporting, you die slowly for a wage. My advice to young people (those of you who are in your first 5 years of employment) is to realize now that unless you want to become a business owner or want to do 12+ years of good effort in one of the big 5 (4?) consulting firms, you should just never grow your personal cost of living and instead focus on doing stuff you love - money be damned. You may just find yourself in the enviable position where doing the thing you loved resulted in a windfall (Google bought you), or at least funds you 5+k/mo while you travel the many other awesome parts of the world which cost way less than the US and western Europe.
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