Time to Compete!

I’m a naturally laid-back person: part of me hates work. I enjoy writing, I enjoy organizing political, social and educational events, I enjoy the various roles I play at Fountain House from office worker to clubhouse standards analyst to literary promoter of clubhouse values, but in regard to having a role in the marketplace, I have no idea what I should be doing.

And I think that part of the reason for my professional stagnancy has been my attitude about work: I really dislike ordinary wage work. Nevertheless, we all have to grow up sometime and now my time has come. I have to get psyched about work, about economic competition, about making it in America. So, my game plan is as follows:

I will return to doing messenger work in order to put a few bucks in my pocket while I experiment with other types of work.

I will also join a temple, partly for spiritual reasons, but also because I want to do volunteer work for a Jewish organization, the type of work that might lead to paid employment, either at the organization at which I volunteer or at some other place in the nonprofit world. I’m thinking of starting with part-time work with flexible hours, so that I don’t endanger my benefits and then move on from there, if I have the capacity. And on the side, I’ll pursue freelance writing.

But I must think about having a work ethic and a desire to compete because that’s what the American workforce is about: hard work and competition. And I think that I can compete because, though I have been a Marxist for decades, I do enjoy competition. I certainly enjoy sports competition, even though I’m at best a mediocre athlete, so why can’t I translate that competitive passion into being a worker?

The time has come to find a decent job and make money. For me, this change is better late than never.

Craig R. Bayer

Stop This

Donald Trump should be stopped before he ruins this country and world.

Donald Trump should have been stopped before…

1.     He became President.

2.     He became Republican Party candidate for President.

3.     He became leader of the Birther movement.

4.     He became an influential donor and celebrity.

5.     He recovered from a slimy bankruptcy process.

6.     He became an exploiter of workers.

7.     He became a business cheat.

8.     He married three or four times.

He had no business being in any of these situations, but he was enabled by his fellow Americans.

America isn’t serious about morality and social justice or even grace and class.

America must be stopped.

Craig R. Bayer

Perfect Unity is Unattainable

Being a Marxist for most of my life—and also a Christian sympathizer—I’ve always believed in the importance of world unity. However, events in my personal life have final taken their toll on my all for one, one for all ethic.  When you’ve been distanced and sometimes outright rejected by various individuals, you learn that human unity is meaningless to most people and when you hold on to most people, they think you’re weird, obsessive, pathetic, crazy, etc…

So, my advice to people on the Left is as follows: only be nice to people who, when you reach out to them, are nice to you. Continue reaching out, but if you receive a bad reaction, let the person who doesn’t take you seriously go to hell.

I’m a full-fledged Jew, now: I don’t have to care about perfect unity, I’m free to do as I please, and Marxists and Christians who cannot stomach this can go f-k themselves.

Craig R. Bayer, 1/27/18

Tired of Waiting for Revolution

There will be no socialist revolution, at least not in my lifetime, that will liberate us all from tedium and enable us to spend our days writing and sharing poetry, music and blogs . And I am not Barack Obama or Ernest Hemingway, so I will not become rich being a political or literary celebrity. As a result, I have to put my nose to the grindstone and become a wage worker for the first time in years. 

If I have to be a mere messenger for the rest of my life, I will do so, because I am obliged to pull my own weight and earn my own money and stop playing around with complete poverty. Poverty sucks, there’s nothing romantic about it and I’m sick of it.

It’s time to develop a new work ethic, one that entails doing not just the things I enjoy, but the things I MUST DO, however boring, tedious or unpleasant. So, I’ll be back in the workforce to whatever extent I need to be and can handle.

Discipline Required

It’s late in the game to conclude this, but I must be a more responsible human being…spiritually, financially, professionally, etc….

I’ve been undisciplined, even reckless, over the course of fifty three years, but I think it’s time to really get hold of myself.

Even in regard to my writing, I must enforce greater discipline. I cannot write solely on inspiration, cannot produce content that offends (sometimes intentionally) eighty percent of the world, cannot release pieces that I sense I’ll ultimately regret releasing, etc….

I must use all the religious and self-help texts I’ve ever read to turn my head and life around, because being a flake has run its course. It was romantic at twenty three, not fifty three.

Here’s to a more disciplined 2018 and beyond!

Craig R. Bayer

Realization

There are a million things I’d like to do with my life, but my main focus and obsession must be to serve…to serve God, family, friends, and humanity. When I lose that focus, I just get angry, at myself, God, my fellow humans, unfriendly dogs, etc…

But when I’m serving, I must learn to be more tolerant and compassionate, because not everybody is going to do what I want them to do, whether they are doing right or wrong in resisting my will.

My job should be to help make a better planet, not a perfect planet, and I can’t change the world singlehandedly, anyway, so I should top trying to control others at every turn.

My politics, though they will always be left-leaning, must be more civilized and my spiritual commitment must be deeper. More prayer, both in and out of religious communities, less bitching and moaning.

Thank the Lord for keeping me on this Earth long enough to come to this realization. Hopefully, I have plenty of time to utilize it.

Craig R. Bayer, 1/6/17

Come Together

I’m trying to get my life together. My first priority is to find a new home, because by the end of February, I have to be out of my current residence. The building has been sold and the new landlord has not renewed my supportive housing agency’s lease.  I’ll probably end up somewhere in the Bronx, but I’m trying to maintain and increase my options.

After my housing issue is resolved, I plan to resume my job search. I am going to look into bookstores and libraries.

I will continue blogging, on a weekly basis, at minimum, and I may embark on a book, but I’m not sure about when that will happen and what I intend to write.

Lastly, I plan to simultaneously join a humanistic Jewish synagogue and a Unitarian church to see where I fit in spiritually. My heart is with the Jews, but politically and economically I am a bit out of step with them, so there’s no guarantee I’ll find a home with them.

In any case, my head is coming together, I’m utilizing positive thinking and I am confident that I am moving in the right direction…

Craig R. Bayer, 1/5/17