ESSAYS / 01

Work was supposed to be a choice

CALVIN THURMAN · NOVEMBER 2, 2026

Work should be a choice, not the whole of a life. Start by questioning the deal you were handed.

At 16 you start working. At 65 you are still working, or you finally get to stop when your body is tired. In between you get a vacation if they approve it. That is the deal we were handed, and almost nobody stops to ask if it is a good one.

I am asking.

There is so much more to life than working from 16 to 65 at a 9 to 5 and calling that living. There is so much more than working and dying and not having anything to show for it. I refuse to believe that is the whole deal.

I am not saying quit your job tomorrow. I am saying the way the world is going now, people can earn their own way. You can take your time back and spend it doing what you want. Work should be a choice. It should not be what you have to do just to live.

That is what Standard Thought is. One idea at a time, in my own words. No ads. No noise. A movement, starting with one idea.