My choice of poison

Juzno:  I see that you have in your possession a bottle of St George Absinthe.

Rob:  Yes, Kamilah gave it to me for Christmas.  She really knows her father very well.

Juzno:  Have you tried it yet?

Rob:  A couple of times.  The stuff is real strong.  One thing I learned is not to drink it when you have a flu.  It's going to make you more sick.

Juzno:  So why do you drink it?

Rob:  We all have our choice of poison.

Juzno:  I want to change the topic and talk about your retirement.  Today is officially your last day of work.  How does it feel?

Rob:  It feels great.  I'm moving on to work on different stuff.  Making art more actively and going back to writing music again.  Really, a  lot of my plans are arbitrary. They depend on God's calling.  I see that I really didn't quit work but I'm just going to be working on different things.

Juzno:  But you are not going to be paid, right?

Rob:  The Lord will provide.  He is the Perfect Employer.  I trust I'll have all kinds of fringe benefits.

Juzno:  How was your previous employer like?

Rob:  Like all human employers, mine was not perfect.  So it was a drag.  But you learn to deal with the bad and take the good. Bosses tend to inflict fear to get what they want.  I think of Camus, "nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."  The whole system is based on either of the three things: [1] people are fearful, [2] people are greedy, or [3] people are stupid.

Juzno:  Did that work for you?

Rob:  Oh yes.  Sometimes scared the daylights out of me.  Even if you are always doing the right things, people can still be critical about what you do.  Of course being an idiot as myself, I  just move on and hope that the next day I still have a job.  In the schemes of things, I was working for a boss, who was working for a boss, who was working for a bigger boss, and so on.  So yeah in a sense they were all looking to please their bosses - hoping that in doing so they would advance their agenda.

Juzno:  And what agenda is that?

Rob:  Greed.  Pride.  It's really a kind of idolatry.  They worship the idols they make.  In this case, money or fame or career advancement.

Juzno:  You sound like a communist.

Rob:  By what you mean is we don't really own anything we have, then yes.  All these things that we have are not ours but loaned to us.  We are just stewards of whatever we have in possession.  That includes our children, friends and ultimately ourselves.  We are all going back to the dust and return everything that we had to the Giver of all things.

Juzno:  What is the first thing you are going to do on your retirement?

Rob:  Sleep in.