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To Bee Or Not To Bee: That Is The Question


William T. Wiley, Learning to Bee Hive, 1998, color lithograph on paper, 22 1⁄4 x 26 1⁄8 in. (56.5 x 66.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 2003.68.6, © 1998, William T. Wiley
© 1998. William T. Wiley.

Growing up, we were told we would be our lives' protagonists. Our days could consist of battling the hydras of bureaucracy, escaping corporate labyrinths, or finding the golden fleece of purpose. Yet, the majority of people are not the active heroes of their stories. Instead, they are parts of the corporate machine. They have micromanagers and macro egos battling to be their supervisors. The work day does not begin at 9 am; instead, it starts with the buzzing of Slack or email notifications at dawn. When you eventually enter the workspace, your professional Baron von Rothbart doesn't transform you into the graceful swan but rather a worker bee.



Swan Joe Andoe American Printer Maurice Payne British Publisher Mezzanine Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art 1992
Image courtesy of Joe Andoe.


Bees are a keystone species. Scientists can predict the ecosystem's health when there is an increase or decrease in population size. But what happens when you are no longer a bee? What happens when the powers at be say thank you for the opportunity, but we are going in a different direction. In one swoop, you lost your wings and stripes. You think: What would you do? Who would you be?




Gif courtesy of Wix


If you are a bee, you are lucky. When you first meet someone, the second question in the conversation is: What do you do? You can confidently say you are a part of X company doing Y things to raise Z% of the bottom line. You can account for at least one-third of your day having a purpose beyond personal responsibilities. You are accountable to an ideal. You are responsible to make something happen. No matter how small you might feel, you can tell the random person I am a part of a team. I can not say that. I am a freelancer.



Theatrical scene in a great hall with a vaulted ceiling and a central sculpture; two figures converse in the background while a third stands alone in the foreground Giacomo-Maria Giovannini Italian Possibly after Ludovico Ottaviano Burnacini Italian ca. 1687–1717
Image is in the public domain.


Freelancers or freelancing is a catch-all term that describes what you do and who you are. As a freelancer, you are a jack of all trades while never being on a company 401K plan for more than one year. You have a tapas bar of random knowledge but no roots in company culture. When you tell people what you do, it is always accompanied by the awkward "ah". To be a freelancer, you somehow show perseverance and the inability to work well with others over a sustained amount of time. To be a freelance, you wear a scarlet letter. You are already on the outside. Your impact is based on the output, rather than personal connection.



The Scarlet Letter Hugues Merle (French, 1823-1881) (Artist) 1861 oil on canvas (18th and 19th Centuries) Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of "The Scarlet Letter" (1850), regarded this painting, which William Walters commissioned from Merle in 1859, as the finest illustration of his novel. Set in Puritan Boston, the novel relates how Hester Prynne was publicly disgraced and condemned to wear a scarlet letter "A" for adultery. Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister who fathered her child, and Roger Chillingworth, Hester's elderly husband, appear in the background.  Merle's canvas reflects some of the same 19th-century historical interest in the Puritans as Hawthorne's book, a fascination that reached its peak with the establishment of Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863. By depicting Hester and her daughter, Pearl, in a pose that recalls that of the Madonna and Child, Merle underlines "The Scarlet Letter"'s themes of sin and redemption.  INSCRIPTION  [Signature] At lower right: HUGUES MERLE PROVENANCE   Commissioned by William T. Walters (through George A. Lucas as agent), Baltimore, March 9, 1861 [1]; inherited by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.  [1] The Diary of George A Lucas, p.104, commissioned from the artist, on November 1, 1859.
Commissioned by William T. Walters, 1859.



We live in the decline of the professional bee. More and more companies are transitioning to contract-to-hire or freelance work. If you are not apart of the keystone species, how does your output benefit the environment? If you are not a bee, what are you? The answer is simple: you are you. Your productivity does not equate to the entire impact of your life. Your professional endeavors are only part of you.



puzzle
Image courtesy of Wix.


In Shakespeare Hamlet, Hamlet ponders, " To be or not to be?" As Gen Z continues to work as freelancers and contractors, you realize that being a bee is not the measure of your worth. Your impact is measured by the your kindness, bravery, and honesty. Your professional identity is one part of you.









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Me on my first day of graduate school

Rachel Huss

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