Chain System: Does It End Ever?

Just a while back I was listening to this speech where the speaker narrated this anecdote. It so happened that a hermit was passing through a kingdom where he spotted the king that appeared to be very grim. On asking he replied that nothing was working well in his kingdom, as the Ministers were all corrupt, his son - the Prince would waste his entire day gambling and show no interest in the matters of the kingdom. 

The hermit listened intently, smiled a little and said, “Don’t worry O King, this too shall pass.” Twenty years had passed since then, the hermit was an old man now, and he decided to pass through that particular place again. The king on seeing him, recognised him, bowed and said that he was absolutely correct in interpreting that everything is going to work out well for his kingdom. He mentioned that the prince had turned out to be a fine lad, the Ministers had been faithful to him, and the kingdom was working great. 

The hermit listened intently again and smiled saying, “Don’t worry O King, this too shall pass.” And, I was appalled. I mean what did that mean exactly? Is this some sort of a chain system? If yes, then how does that work? I mean you try hard to fetch a job for yourself, after days and months of hard work you finally manage to get one. Of course, during your lows you keep saying to yourself that you shouldn’t worry too much as this is going to pass soon, and sure it will. But what after that?

Let’s say that I struggle hard to find a job, find one and then settle down in it, only to realise later that it’ll be gone too soon or maybe after a while. What are you supposed to do after that? How are you going to survive after that? Most importantly, can you live your whole life based on this uncertainty? Is there any turning back from that? 

Sure there are hundreds of motivational stories where a founder of a startup started his job at 50 and then was the most successful entrepreneur ever and there is this plethora of resignations of people in the US that are leaving their jobs willingly to set their foot into the unknown. How will they survive - I have no idea. 

My point is of course these articles and motivational stories sound really sweet, but how do they appeal to people like us that have bills and EMIs to pay? Now that we understand that they are an integral part of this chain system, can we say that we’ll have the ability to float freely in it with dignity?

Image courtesy: FLY:D on Unsplash