Stella, I was not, in any way, denying the existence of discrimination, and I completely agree with you that we need to fight for equal opportunity.  I posted the quote about everyday jobs in reply to Joe's comment that most people can't get paid for their passions.  My point was that this has been true all through history; there were always starving artists, struggling writers, philosophers who couldn't pay the rent, and so on.  They found ways to survive, while still pursuing their ambitions.

As for working at menial tasks in order to free one's mind, that quote was taken from a larger article, which contrasted a life of what is often described as voluntary simplicity with the rat race Joe was talking about when he mentioned those 40+ hour workweeks and expensive suburban houses.  (The complete article wasn't posted on Aspergian Island, and I don't have a link to it, but that's the general idea.)

My job doesn't pay much, compared to the careers of many other people with the same professional degree and years of experience, but I am able to work from home, I can choose my hours, the job is so well suited to my skills that I can get the work done in much less than a 40-hour week, and there is very little stress involved.  Granted, it took me years to find a job that fit in so well with my lifestyle, and not everyone is so lucky, but I wouldn't have found it at all if I had been overly focused on the rat race, or if I had gotten discouraged and given up.

This post was last modified: 12-29-2004 04:37 PM by Bonnie Ventura.