I find it interesting that the TV shows The Good Place and Nobody's Looking both portray the supernatural beings overseeing humanity as stupefyingly bureaucratic. Heaven and Hell are both another version of Office Space, or at least that's Netflix's take.
I hope that when I'm dead I won't have to deal with paperwork and two-factor authentication anymore.
Perhaps one of the blessings of being ensnared in bureaucracy is that I can't even really complain about it. Trying to explain the situation to another person is just as unpleasant as dealing with it. It's a situation that encourages me to merely sigh and allude to paperwork and governments and corporations and everyone more or less understands the Sisyphean task I'm dealing with.
Oddly, studying French has helped me make peace with being caught up in bureaucracy. It's giving me practice not understanding what's going on or what I'm supposed to do in a neutral setting. While I'm pleased with how much French I've learned in a year, it’s a victory when I’m able to blurt out something close enough for someone to guess what I'm trying to say.
As an adult, most of the times I experience confusion are decidedly unpleasant. That's why the neutral experience of wading through a French story and the delight of suddenly understanding what’s going on feel so important.
As much as I might know that mastery and control are illusions, it's hard to remember that in a world that demands I act like I know what I'm doing and am in charge of my own life.
When I spent a few months living in Cologne, the guy I lived with had the Confucius quote “the journey is the reward” on his bedroom wall. It had a grammatical error, although I can't remember what it was and it's hard to imagine how der Weg ist das Ziel got mangled. He would occasionally talk about fixing it or taking it down. It was still there, errors and all, when I left.
Now I wonder if the error added to it. Perhaps it made it a little more accurate. What is life without its mistakes? Whose life doesn't have those tasks we never quite get around to?
His wall art was inspired by his experience walking the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route he took from Germany to the coast of Spain. He became conversational in French on that walk. It's a journey that's full of beautiful views and the formation of intense relationships. It's also a journey full of discomfort, both physical and spiritual, and its own bureaucracy. And that's all part of the reward.
I haven't even walked the Camino, but if you know one person who's walked the Camino, you know twenty of them. Right now I'm staying at one of their homes, full of sunlight and plants and art. The shell that's the sign of pilgrims on the road to Santiago hangs in the bedroom, a talisman reminding me that the journey is the reward.
Carers Canada is hosting a conversation on balancing care work and paid employment April 5th.
Julie Halpert discusses the impact of chronic illness and care work on people caring for their spouses.
Paula Span adds to the growing case that while many people would prefer to die at home, what really makes for a good death is a comfortable space where patients and familes get the support they need.
The International Wages for Housework Campaign is celebrating 50 years with an online archive and events.