I was flipping through an old book that I bought at a used bookstore this summer. I’ve never read the book, but found the Preface to be quite interesting and figured I’d post a snippet here to see what you think.

The book is Colony to Nation by A.R.M Lower, and was published in 1946.

Here’s the quote:

“Most of those who see this book will probably decide without opening it that it must be a dull one. Few people read any history and fewer still read any Canadian history. Relatively few are interested in Canada. To outsiders Canada is not a country with intrinsic appeal. If it were internationally unreliable, it might attract as much attention as Ireland or Italy, but since it can invariably be counted on in advance by the powers to whom the conduct matters, it ranks as safe as sane, a succesfull mediocrity of a country, like Switzerland or Sweden.”

I’ll take mediocrity over instability any day. Oh, Canada…

Having never worked in a “real” job (besides a short stint at a campus coffee stand), my primary work experience has been in my parents’ business.

Much like any other office job that anyone, anywhere else, in the entire world has worked, most of the time is not spent working, but rather attempting to appear like you’re doing work when you’re actually doing nothing. If you’ve ever worked in an office, and seen the movie “Office Space”, you will understand that cinema can perfectly mirror real, daily life.

The jobs I’ve been given over the years have been boring – mind-numbingly boring, especially for someone more accustomed to poetry and theoretical structures of society.

Yet, it becomes very easy to get sucked into these soul-draining, high paying, cubicle jobs.

As I said before, the work is boring. So boring in fact, that the slightest change to your daily routine seems much more exciting than it actually is. I’ll give you an example:

Recently I’ve been auditing our Billing Details Report, checking for billing variances between our report, and a provider services claim form. Basically, I just check numbers and make sure that they match up on each sheet and move on. This happens 99% of the time.

When the numbers are different, however, it’s really really exciting. Well, not really. See, it’s exciting to me because it means I get to report the variance and act all cool like I’m really sleuthing out the system. In reality, all it means is that I go to Microsoft Word and make a little report and move on.

While these slight changes might not seem that exciting, after looking at thousands upon thousands of numbers they become the holy grail of sorts in the auditing world. I can only imagine it’s similar to Police Officers in sleepy country towns – they can’t wait for the next big bust.

All I think while I’m crunching the numbers is that maybe the next one will have a variance.

And that’s just sad.

How do we judge someone? When we see them on the streets, what do we pay attention to first? Do we judge them on appearance, noticing their clothes, or the car they drive? Or do we notice their behaviour and decide that they’re probably a generous person?

I’m interested in the question because we are constantly forced to make judgements about not only other individuals, but ourselves as well.

What is the judge of a truly good person? And how do we know we are ever “good people”?

There are so many factors to consider, all of it subjective.

Is the ability to support my family more important than my own happiness? Or is happiness the ultimate deciding factor in whether – in my own view – I am a good person, living a full life?

Do we judge by merit? Do I rate myself higher knowing I’ve achieved more than others? Or do I rate myself based on how much my life has benefitted that of others?

Confusing questions, with no concrete answer.

For some people, wealth is the primary goal and that which to be measured by. For others, it’s happiness. Others, it’s a good family. And for some, it’s the transcendence of both space and time.

The limits are endless and we have no real way of knowing how to satisfy the intensely critical judge inside ourselves. We constantly wonder about the meaning of life, but fail to see the meaning of our own lives.

Like ecology, all of these factors working together creates a balance for the average individual; meaning, essentially that the average person, taking all factors into consideration would probably lead a fulfilled life. Religious doctrine is a good example of this.

Unfortunately, however, the average person is rarely average, being at once something and at another, the complete opposite. The amazing thing about human beings is the variance in our species that allows for no one to be truly average. While we have come up with parameters that define who would fall into the “average” category, these are constructed, and therefore have no real basis in determining judgement.

So for each person, their life-fulfillment graphs are higher in some places than others. Categories that exist for some won’t exist for others. And we all probably rate our own happiness as relatively high up the chart.

But, like ecology, it must work in balance. Is personal happiness more important than familial happiness? Is it more important to be happy if I know my happiness is inhibiting the happiness of others?

While happiness is often the judge of our own self-worth, it is important to balance it with respect to the other aspects of our lives. Being selfish is easy; being accomodating is much more difficult.

So while everyone is now thinking about how they measure up to their peers and themselves, consider the meaning of life: To find meaning in your own life.

And remember that a judge’s life is never easy. Sometimes it’s best to just give them the day, week, or year off.

‘Till next time.