World Enough and Time

Do you like your job? Have you seen the movie "Space Office" with Jennifer Aniston?

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I sometimes like my job. No, I haven't seen "Space Office" - should I?

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The title of the movie is "Office Space" (sorry). It's a comedy about work in an office; it's rather a satire and to be honest I found it very sad. The protagonist hates his job because it's so endlessly boring and in the end he leaves the office for another simplier job, although he is a programmer. He says that human beings weren't create to sit for hours in a cage before a computer screen.

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He says that human beings weren't create to sit for hours in a cage before a computer screen.

Well, probably true. A lot depends whether the work is productive. I like sitting in front of a computer screen, myself: I like that better than other parts of my job, such as dealing with the public when the public decides to be unreasonable. Which happens. Computer screens are much more polite.

A balanced life is the important thing. That, and a balanced chequebook.

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A balanced life is the important thing. That, and a balanced chequebook.

How true. Actually I have nothing against computers, but obviously I have something against offices. But it's not important, take it easy (that's what I always say to myself). What time is now in Ottawa? I'm going to leave after twenty minutes, and if you'll answer I'll read it first tomorrow. Have a nice day or a good morning.

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I have nothing against computers, but obviously I have something against offices.

Depending on the office. Some are better than others. I tend to think an office in a theatre is better than most, for various reasons - but has its drawbacks too.

What time is now in Ottawa?

I wrote my last reply to you before I left for work, probably about 7:30 am. I am replying from the office now, at 8:39. I guess you'll be seeing this tomorrow.

You have a good day too.

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of all my jobs the 1 were I worked in an office at a computer was the least stressfull. I did teach, I did 'selling ticket/books and giving information/supervising' 1000's of tourists a day (Anne Frank House) both very stressfull. I do like interactioon with the public, very much so (most of the time) but I can easily give too much of myself.
No, I wish for something moderately intellectually challanging within fixed hours and with fixed tasks. Not the most glamourous but i suspect the best for my health.

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You worked at the Anne Frank House? That's neat because it's somewhere I've been - way back in 1969. Cool.

Intellectual challengement is good. So is creative work.

Not much work is stress-free. Not many lives, either, come to think of it.

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1969, oooh, long before my time! (I am from 1975). The Anne Frank Museum has changed a lot since then. A new building has ben built next to it to have more space for exhibition and background information. This can be a bit confusing for visitor since they enter via the new building and than during the tour walk trough to the old building itself. My tasks were; selling entrance tickets, manning the bookstore and manning the informationdesk. In a way it was a fun place, nice collegues, diversity of tasks. The sadness sometime shone trough, but if you think about that every day you cannot function in a place like that. And tourists, oooh there are so many dumm trourists, they realy got to you. Ranging from the simple "where is the toilet" while they were standing in front of it, to the shocking "where does Anne Frank live now?", to the culturally limited "where is the Hard Rock Cafe? we allways go to the Hard Rock Cafe". Also people with more difficult stories, like a veteran who had helped clear Auschwitz, the woman who had lost her family to Palestinian bombs and told me over and over again that the Palestinians were exactly like the Nazi's. The Jewish woman who just had visited Poland and was still deeply upset and aggrieved by the amount of anti-semitism there and who now interpreted our exhibition (aimed at making people think) as straightforward anti-semitism and who was understandably very upset. To name some.
But is was above all a very busy, crowded job were you had to function with hunders of people around you, with lots of time pressure. I know that I could never ever have a job like that. I realize that no stress is probably not achievable (since under-stress is as damaging) but it needs to be something other than that. (Or I am bound to go trough my boundaries and the whole circus of hospitalization is beckoning again)

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The Anne Frank Museum has changed a lot since then.

The whole world has changed a lot since then.

The sadness sometime shone trough, but if you think about that every day you cannot function in a place like that.

Yes. I found it oppressively sad.

to the shocking "where does Anne Frank live now?",

Missing the point, aren't they?

a veteran who had helped clear Auschwitz

How awful that must have been.

the woman who had lost her family to Palestinian bombs and told me over and over again that the Palestinians were exactly like the Nazi's.

I imagine that to the families involved, anyone who bombs family members looks the same. Which, when you think of it, is doubly tragic, and shows the futility of bombing people.

now interpreted our exhibition (aimed at making people think) as straightforward anti-semitism

Huh? How could Anne Frank's house be anti-semitic? Rather the opposite, I would think.

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Huh? How could Anne Frank's house be anti-semitic? Rather the opposite, I would think.

if you are upset enough everything can be.

At that time we had an interactive exhibition about freemdom of speech. In a room with a big videoscreen 2 sides of an argument would be set out, one in favour of forbidding a certain item on TV and one against it. The visitors got to vote for each item wich arguments they found the most convincing. The items ranged from Eminem and his raps, an TV-spot warning against the dangers of fireworks showing someone with his fingers lost as a pathetic figure (groups of handiccaped youngsters had protested against these government issued spots in the Netherlands) and there was also a news item about a protest of Maroccan and other Islamic Youth who had protested at May the 4th (rememberance day), they had disturbed the wreaths at the momnuments and had shouted 'Hamas Hamas, alle Joden aan het gas' (Hamas Hamas, gass all Jews). Understandably such images were very painfull for some of our visitors. And for some this pain prevented them from seeing it in context of the exhibition. (Though I must say that after a lengthy talk with the lady who just came back from Poland she withdrew her accusations but she was still very uneasy about showing such terrible images anymore that strictly neccesary. A point of view I can understand but don't share.)

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if you are upset enough everything can be.

So true. And that says something about human nature, too.

Understandably such images were very painfull for some of our visitors. And for some this pain prevented them from seeing it in context of the exhibition.

It seems to me that it's obvious that the point was to show that hatred based on race/religion/whatever is not a thing of the past, whether we're talking about World War II or not, and that the important thing is not to accept prejudices but to think things through.

Showing terrible images may be... terrible... but the other extreme - pretending the bad things never happen - can be just as dangerous. As usual, I think the best response is to find some sort of balance.

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Showing terrible images may be... terrible... but the other extreme - pretending the bad things never happen - can be just as dangerous. As usual, I think the best response is to find some sort of balance.

yes. But what may be bearably painfull for you or me, might be unbearably so for someone who lost most of her family in WW2 and who now feels threatend by the suicide bommers of Hamas.

Denial and ignoring are dangerous pathways, but sometimes understandably attractive ones

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True. I can certainly understand the fear.

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