The Criminal Manifesto

Logic should dictate that us wee folk would all be criminals.
You play by the rules. Get up early to get to work on time. Do what they tell you to do the way they tell you to do it. Endure petty criticisms as huge injustices occur daily with the higher ups. Take your breaks and lunch on time, genuflect to the 15 or 30 minute restrictions on your freedom. Punch in, punch out and eat s**t for being one minute early, one minute late.
And you get no where. Sacrifice individuality and dignity and you get nowhere.
Because the rules are their rules. They are not your rules, they are not designed to be fair, they are not designed to make you comfortable or promote advancement.
On one level they are designed to maintain order. On another level, and I believe this is the greater portion of the justification, they are designed to keep you in your place, to break your spirit, to let you know who is boss.
To make you compliant and devoid of hope.
All good employees are compliant and devoid of hope.
Rules are designed so a game can be played fairly, so that neither side has an unfair advantage. When you realize this is not true of life, that rules are designed to give one side all the advantages, you would think we would all snap and look towards alternatives. I mean the concept is so foreign to logical thinking that your mind should rebel. You should break down completely and get yourself a gun.
Fortunately life wears you down slowly between childhood and adulthood so the shock is not so great. Kind of like watching yourself age in the mirror. You don't really see yourself age up to a certain point, so you can look in the mirror at the age of 68 and accept it.
Unless you are Keith Richards.
It could be cool and an interesting scientific experiment if there was no gradual wearing down. If you learned the meaning of the word rules, understood the concept, and then suddenly got slapped in the face with reality.
F**K YOU would be a much more openly expressed sentiment and quite appropriate. I can visualize the signs outside Sunday mass: "Today's sermon: On Incorporating F**K You Into a Meaningful Spiritual Existence."
Its interesting to speculate what the effect would be if 98% of the population were criminals, 1% were dutiful employees, and the other 1% remain contentedly rich and amused.
As I ponder this it occurs to me that not much would change. The dutiful employees would still be doing all the work and making the least money, the criminals would still be concentrated in management and making all the money, and the rich would still be kissing Romney's ass.
The only difference is that the condescension and lack of respect would be out in the open. With numbers like that it would be hard to hide.
Management would be sitting around drinking whiskey and smoking cigars, making audible jokes about their employees, pointing at them and laughing.
And carrying stop watches to time breaks and lunch.
Maybe the lesson is to just go out and be a criminal right off the bat. You don't need a gun, all you need is a complete disregard for the welfare of others. That's how upper management is formed.
Employees milk the system for any little advantage they can get. A couple of extra minutes for lunch, a pre-break break when the bossman ain't looking. Stealing whatever little item you can to give you a thrill and a taste of payback.
Calling in sick when you are not sick, getting in to work fifteen minutes late and blaming it on the imaginary 89 year old woman who collapsed while crossing the road.
I guess this is what passes for our life of crime. Most of us don't want to risk jail time and new friends with questionable sexual preferences. So we get back in any little way we can.
Ultimately I guess we are all criminals.
The more heartless get promoted, the rest of us settle for stolen minutes and free stationery.
We are indeed an impressive species.