The Subtle Insult

Of all the small slights that I should be able to just let slide, the one I absolutely cannot is the accusation that I am a workaholic.

That may seem like a silly thing to find insulting, but it isn't.

I have been told by a number of people that I would rather be at work than have to spend time with them. 

Which is as big a falsehood as one can state about my work habits and what I'd rather be doing with my time.

Work is what I do to keep food on my table and a roof over my head, for now and for the future. 

I did not grow up in a situation where those two basics, food and shelter, were a guarantee. 

In fact, it was quite the opposite. My Mom and my five siblings, we lived the epitome of hand-to-mouth.

That level of insecurity does something to a person's psyche.

I cannot imagine what life is like for people who have never had to scrape by, who never knew the fear of losing what little you had due to one bad week, who never had any type of safety net - no well-off parents or grandparents or other assorted relatives who could and would bail you out if times got rough.

Because those things - that's the only life I ever knew.

So I work, and I work a lot, at more than one job. Not because I enjoy it, but because I have to.

It's that simple, yet it astounds me that I know people who are oblivious to that simple fact.

Again, this may seem like a petty issue to many people out there, but it isn't to me. 

Some people reading this probably have no idea how being accused of working too much can ever be interpreted as an insult.

It's actually very simple when you factor in that the accusation usually comes from people who have never actually had to work hard to keep ahead of the game. 

Not because they don't know how to work hard or won't work hard, I'm not saying that, I'm saying that they've never actually had to.

Had to, as in having to work hard to survive. 

They've never experienced life with the threat of actually living in their vehicle or on the streets being real, tangible.

They've spent their whole lives like trapeze artists who walk a fat wire with not just a safety net below them, but a couple extra back-up safety nets and a few of those large airbags below them to catch them if they fall.

Working, being able to work, being able to earn a living, is a serious thing to me.

It's also something I feel very fortunate to be able to do.

I admit I work a lot, and I can get too busy, and on occasion I get too tired to want to spend much time with other people.

I've actually ended relationships with people who have stated; "Oh, don't give that 'I'm too busy' excuse - no one's that busy, that's BS."

Well, yeah, I am.

That's just how it is for me. 

Man...I'm really not a lot of fun right now. 

But it's not because I'm overworked.