Human Resources

One parlance which is popular in business today is to refer to people as "resources". Instead of saying "We need another employee on to work on that," you will hear someone say, "We need another resource on that." Maybe this is because Microsoft Project uses the term resource. To me, a resource is an inanimate object. It seems a bit dehumanizing to go from being a human to a resource. I suppose at least I'm a renewable resource, as long as you give me enough Diet Mountain Dew and bean burritos and allow me to sleep on a cot in the corner of the office.
Perhaps the term resource is only a bell-weather for a deeper sense of the dehumanizing process of work. Right now all of us are either frantically looking for a job or darn scared of losing the one we have. If we're lucky, we're trading 100 hours or more of our life for a paycheck every two weeks. If we're not, we're sleepless with worries about mortgage payments and grocery bills.
Once Terri Traen said to Mike Gelfand on the KQ morning show that he was depressed because he was smart, and smart people think about things too much. Terri's observation was keen. If you are smart, talented, enthusiastic about life, then there is a natural desire to trade your time for something worthwhile. Bright people want to trade their 50 hours a week for something in addition to just cash. They want to be out there helping others, making improvements and taking care of what needs to be done. Bright people who are kept from this can dwell on it and think about it too darn much.
Maybe the best we can do is focus on the time outside of work, the remaining hours, the time when we get to be people instead of resources. I like being a student, a wife, a pet owner and a writer a heck of a lot more than I like being a resource. Just keep those bean burritos coming and I'll keep renewing myself.