I was thinking the other day: why do we do this craft stuff? It is hard work, there's no sick pay, no pension plan, we could both earn more money if we got ourselves 'jobs'.
Well, despite all the difficulties that beset us we enjoy what we do. It is very satisfying to make something good and sell it. You feel like your life is worthwhile.
And the process of selling can be wonderful. On a good day a market or craft fair can have a real buzz, that sense you might get at a party that's going well: energy flowing, optimism, ideas being exchanged, feelings expressed, gossip indulged in, jokes made, the pleasure of being in good company and so on. In other words a positive, life affirming feeling which 'jobs' often don't offer. You certainly don't get it in Tesco's even though the staff are trained to smile at you these days.
Money is important, yes, but the way you make it is important too. Buddhism has an expression for it: Right Livelihood. This goes deeper that the shallow entrepreneur culture that the Government wants to foster which I find rather suspect. So many entrepreneurs strike me as being sociopaths who need psychotherapy rather than adulation. We need more people making useful things and providing genuinely useful services rather than workaholics that will do anything to make money.
This morning I looked at the Common Ground Site [www.commonground.org.uk ]. Their 'Rules for Distinctiveness' reflect our values. I loathe the way our towns are losing their identity and dissolving into a homogeneous grey mush of chain stores and charity shops. I like to think that we are doing our bit to create some interest and colour along with our fellow market traders and craft workers.
Phil.
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