Monday

By Gabriel Curran

The alarm clock rings and billions of people wake up then set off on their daily ritualistic journeys. Scurrying along, catching buses and trains, slurping coffee, reading papers, walking and eating, yawning and wiping the sleep from their weary eyes.
It all seems so harmless, normal and routine. After all, it’s been deeply rendered into our every lives and passed through generation after generation. So who would even stop to question it?
Who would you ever question such a frequent and common occurrence. All through our childhood, we have been preened and prepared for a structured life of mechanical regime, routine and relentless order.
Every governmental institution we ever passed through was getting us ready for this life. This seamlessly chaotic life of diligent busy workers, endlessly clocking in and clocking out.
Society seems to have been ingrained with this subservient attitude, of live for the weekend and hate Mondays. Well why can’t we live for the week and love Mondays like we love Saturdays? It’s been so normalized to feel this way. Everyone dreading this ugly foreboding day called Monday, and everyone counting down and urging the weekend to arrive with baited breath.
The weekend then becomes that one ray of hopeful light, that one bit of pleasure, play and freedom afforded to us by the working system – and governments wonder why so many people obliterate themselves every weekend with rampant hedonistic use of alcohol and drugs.
The weekend becomes this insatiable playpen of manic escapism and temporary relief. The weekdays are just tainted by everlasting drudgery, monotony, lethargy of spirit and soulless repetitiveness.
It’s a rarity to hear someone say they are looking forward to work next week. Instead you hear the same words of discontent, boredom, dissatisfaction and the rest of the other mundane Monday cliches.
Some people are mightily blessed with jobs they cherish and look forward to everyday with passion, verve and vigor. But I feel these people are few and far between and most of them are earning very generous salaries which allow them to have more fruitful existences. The rest of society are just clambering onto low wage pay, barely making ends meet with all their precious time taken up by a ferociously demanding and unforgiving working system.
I suspect most bankers, politicians, sportsman, celebrities love going to work. I bet they love Monday mornings with their expensive coffee and croissants. Well on their wages what do you expect? These people are the very fortunate minority. The majority are just tired and hapless cogs in the machinery. Endlessly turning the wheels of capitalism. Completely acquiescent to the ridiculous rules that are thrusted upon them.
My words may seem bigoted, melodramatic, ultra cynical and almost dis-utopian. But just maybe this is a glaring and painful truth, and we have all actually been fooled and schooled into believing this is actually the right way to live our daily lives. Just maybe we are so utterly credulous and indoctrinated beyond belief that we don’t even have the vision to know any different. Just passive humanoids relentlessly working and consuming. Never questioning this reality, but merely just playing along.
I myself have been lucky that I’ve been able to mostly avoid this insidious routine and actually do something I enjoy. I’ve had and the privilege of righteously practicing my art, and I have not been too bogged down with things that I don’t really want to do. Maybe I come across deluded and overtly utopian to think that everyone should be able to live like that. Waking up every Monday morning feeling happy, excited and full of joy for their daily tasks. Maybe that’s too much like a fantasy and that is just not possible. But what about more of a balance as a compromise? Where we have a choice of a life style which focuses less on money, attainment and rampant work ethic, but more on time for family, friends, creativity, leisure and spiritual growth. Is that too much to ask?
Well unfortunately in our society politicians would probably never dramatically raise the minimum wage and reduce the working hours to allow people more leisure time. That’s simply out of the question and nothing but a futile dream. So what next? How do we find a way to combat this oppressive way of living?