Life on Twitter is interesting. There are varying ideas about many things. One of the big ones is capitalism vs. Marxism. One group’s approach is that a measure of a life is in what you produce. Another says a measure of a life is in just existing. I say that life isn’t about producing or existing.
The truth is both more simple and more complex.
Capitalism vs. Marxism
You can’t go on Twitter and have a good discussion of ideas without hearing a great deal about capitalism and Marxism. One group swears up and down that one view is evil and the other is a veritable utopia. Oddly, the other group feels the same way but in reverse. Who’s right?
In the capitalist view, you work hard and prove your worth. The more you contribute, at least according to Twitter, the more value you bring to society, and therefore, the more important your role is.
In the Marxist view (or at least the Twitterverse version of Marxism), simply existing is enough. You have value. You are important, and if you spend your life just enjoying the world around you, you have lived a valuable and full life.
This is where I wish I had a game-show buzzer, because *buzz*, that’s wrong. For two competing ideas that both have good merit, neither one hits the mark. In fact they are both way off. Life isn’t about producing or existing. It’s about something else.
What Life Is About
The idea that we’re only worth something if we produce our fair share is not only way off the mark, it’s messed up. Human beings have intrinsic value. The fact that we exist means we have value and are important. When we start commoditizing human life, we go down a road of fascism that doesn’t see people as people, but as a means to an end.
Likewise, existing is not enough. Someone grows the food we eat, makes the clothes we wear, provides the information we consume, and develops the products we enjoy. We live in a global world where we benefit off the work of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people every day. To think that we have the right to simply benefit from all that effort without contributing anything ourselves is selfish and thoughtless.
Life isn’t about producing or existing, but both have value. Life is about enjoying the world we live in, but also leaving it better than we found it. It’s about consuming, but also creating more than we consume. After all, you don’t eat unless someone plants. You don’t drink unless someone makes the water safe to drink. It’s not about production; it’s about cooperation. It’s not about the individual. It’s about the community.
Life isn’t about producing or consuming. It’s about coexisting. It’s about enjoying the world together. It’s about doing our fair share, not because it makes us valuable, but because we are a part of something greater than ourselves. You are valuable because you exist. You help others enjoy their existence when you contribute your fair share.
