The ‘Value’ Of My ‘Accomplishments’… Sold To The Highest Bidder?

Isn’t it sad that we sell ourselves in the market like products? Up for sale to the highest bidder in this world so focused on what shouldn’t matter?

Why does everything have a price tag?
The water we drink, the food we eat, and even the people we meet!
Even me
My salary is my price tag
And I feel like an object
a product
for sale in the market
I hate it and yet, this is “normal”

Owned, objectified, and dehumanized
dehumanized enough to create a “CV” to list my “accomplishments”
accomplishments of what? Of the people I inspired? the lives I touched?
Of my battles with depression and my ongoing struggle to regain my self-confidence?

Isn’t it sad that we sell ourselves in the market like products?
Up for sale to the highest bidder

And ready to work at a below-average price?
For a job and a person we may not even like
In an environment we know nothing about
Yet, this is “normal”
It is the way it is

Why is it “normal” to refer to me as a CTC?
A “cost” to the company
So insulting, degrading, and outrageous
Yet I feel trapped, lost, and find it impossible to escape this madness

This is a mad mad world where we are meant to eat, breathe, and drink our work
where someone else’s dream is supposed to be mine
Where I am supposed to help fill someone else’s pockets while also filling mine
Where most of what I earn gets eaten up in rent and food
What do even I have left? What do I do now?

If this isn’t slavery, tell me what is?
It is a slavery of the mind, body, and soul
an affront to creativity, ingenuity, and of freedom

“Work is worship,” they say, but worship what? Money?
“In work, you will find joy,” they say, but then why I am still unhappy?
Do not fool me and tell me that this is “valuable” because it isn’t
For if I work, I will work for myself
to hone my creative energies, passions, and interests

“Value” for me is not monetary
It is spiritual, emotional, and cultural
It is kindness, love, and empathy
Not some rat race to nowhere

So please, spare me the horror and don’t tell me this is “normal”
because it isn’t, at least not for me
Slavery is not normal, and I refuse to take part in it
Yet, I have no choice…

Image source: CanvaPro

Kanav Sahgal

Kanav Narayan Sahgal is a post-graduate student at Azim Premji University, Bangalore where he'

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