My sojourn at the Waldoria Hotel was a rather pleasant one in many ways.
I enjoyed the luxury and refinement of the surroundings. The harmonious
music of the orchestras was pleasant to listen to, and the magnificent
paintings and beautiful works of art were pleasing to the eye. I also
took some pleasure in wearing the different suits of fine clothes with
which I had been supplied, and in making my own person appear as well as
possible in the eyes of others. I even enjoyed entering the spacious and
luxurious restaurants and eating sparingly of some of the delicious
viands prepared by the scientific chef. In fact, the many delightful
advantages to be derived from living at the Waldoria directly appealed
to me as being some of the blessings supplied by nature for all human
beings to enjoy.
But still there was a serious drawback to my thorough and absolute
enjoyment of these conditions, when I took into consideration the fact
that I was in no way responsible for their existence. I was accepting
something from the community, but giving nothing in return. I felt that
in living at the Waldoria, and doing no work for the community, I was
like a great sponge soaking up the life-blood of honest toil, and
returning nothing for the sustenance it afforded me. I felt that I
should at least go to work and do something that would help to pay for
my keeping. True it was that I had the money to pay for these things,
but where did the money come from? Where does all money come from? To
have money to pay for things does not mean that one has earned them. So
I decided that I would go to work as soon as possible, and give to the
community an equivalent for the things I enjoyed.
But then, the great difficulty arose when I tried to find something to
do. It made little difference what kind of work I should engage in as
long as it was of a productive nature. But when I went around looking
for employment, I discovered that there was none to be had.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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