A Case for Pleasure in a Monetized World

“Not every part that may be counted counts, and never every part that counts may be counted.” ~William Bruce Cameron

My gardener and I had been speaking the opposite day—his English damaged, my Spanish worse—however we discovered a method to join.

He informed me about his eight-year-old son, a vivid, joyful child who loves baseball. The boy needs to play. His mom needs him in tutoring. And someplace in that hole, an even bigger query emerged: what issues extra—self-discipline or pleasure?

I didn’t plan to offer recommendation, but it surely got here out anyway. “Let him play ball,” I stated. “Let him be a part of a staff, fall in love with one thing, really feel what it’s like to offer your self to a sport you care about.” Perhaps there’s room for each—tutoring on weekends or part-time. However I couldn’t shake the sensation that too usually, we push children towards what’s helpful earlier than they know what they love.

That dialog stayed with me as a result of it displays one thing larger and extra troubling: virtually every part in life now feels monetized.

From start to dying, we’re priced and processed. Being pregnant is a billing code. Daycare is a enterprise. School is debt. Even dying has been streamlined into packages—premium, commonplace, financial system.

Wish to speak to a therapist? That’ll value you. Need clear meals? That’s additional. A protected place to reside? Relies on your credit score rating. Even our time with family members feels rationed by work schedules and productiveness apps. There’s a price ticket on presence.

The monetization of every part is extra than simply an financial system—it’s a cultural environment. It creeps in quietly, turning artwork into content material, friendships into followers, and values into branding methods. We commerce consideration for promoting, take care of comfort. And because the world turns into extra globalized, centralized, and digitized, this mind-set spreads—environment friendly, scalable, and soul-numbing.

However there’s one thing that may’t be priced or faked: circulate.

Stream is that immersive state the place effort disappears, time softens, and we’re absolutely absorbed in what we’re doing. It’s the sensation of being fully alive and targeted—not as a result of we’re chasing a reward, however as a result of we’re in tune with the duty itself.

I bear in mind pitching in Little League after I was ten. I wasn’t the perfect, however for one transient inning, every part clicked. I finished considering. The ball moved prefer it was a part of me. I wasn’t making an attempt to impress anybody—I used to be simply there, inside the sport. That was circulate. And I’ve spent a lot of my life chasing that feeling by way of music, writing, educating.

I’ve spent most of my life as a instructor, filmmaker, and author. Not as a result of it made me wealthy—it didn’t—however as a result of it gave me one thing to reside for. Now, at seventy, I assist take care of my 96-year-old mom, nonetheless making an attempt to complete my life’s work with little to indicate for it within the financial institution. However the work nonetheless issues. So does she.

My mom’s caregivers—principally girls of coloration—present up day-after-day. They assist her eat, costume, and smile. They aren’t paid practically sufficient, however they transfer by way of their days with compassion, grace, and humor. Their labor doesn’t match right into a tidy spreadsheet of revenue. And but it holds the world collectively.

I’m wondering: What occurs to a society that forgets worth the issues that may’t be monetized?

We all know one thing’s incorrect, however we don’t know what to do. We nonetheless have to pay hire, purchase groceries, discover a method to survive in a system that rewards effectivity over depth, picture over presence. There’s no clear reply. Simply stress, quiet resistance, and typically—if we’re fortunate—a second of readability.

So I say once more: let the boy play. To not win, or to be the star, however to really feel the enjoyment of working with others, of belonging to a staff, of laughing, working exhausting, and studying—collectively. Let him construct friendships which may final a lifetime. Let him really feel what it means to be a part of one thing bigger than himself, the place enchancment issues greater than trophies.

And perhaps, simply perhaps, let him discover circulate. On the sphere, and even in tutoring, if the circumstances are proper—if the training is alive and the main focus is actual. As a result of circulate is the objective, whether or not in a sport or a classroom. That’s the place confidence is born. That’s the place pleasure lives.

After all, I do know Little League may be its personal sort of heartbreak. When the sport turns into about dominance, when adults challenge their very own regrets or insecurities onto the boys, when coaches overlook it’s alleged to be enjoyable—it might probably injury the very spirit it’s meant to nourish.

That’s why it takes the suitable coach. One who listens. One who is aware of it’s a boy’s world for a short time, and that this sport, at its greatest, teaches care, to lose with grace, to strive once more, and to belief others.

I informed his father all this in our clumsy mixture of English and Spanish. I informed him I hoped his son will get to play. Not as a result of it’ll result in something measurable. However as a result of it already is one thing worthwhile.

Typically, the perfect factor we will do is willingly open the door—and let the gamers play.