Once upon a time, before the world knew paper currency, people still worked. Not because they wanted to — but because they had to.
Powerful men would recruit other humans, assign them tasks, fix their work hours, decide their rest days, and outline precisely what needed to be done. In return, they offered food, shelter, and a few gifts on festival days. It was a complete package.
They called it slavery.
Centuries passed. Paper money was invented. Empires fell. Revolutions came and went. But the basic template stayed surprisingly intact.
Today, we proudly say we have jobs. We still wake up on someone else’s time, do what we’re told, wait for weekends like desperate prisoners begging for parole, and collect birthday cakes and gift vouchers from our employers once a year — as if they’ve done us a favour.
We may not be bound by chains, but we’re definitely bound by contracts.
What changed?
Well, the language did.
We no longer say “master,” we say “boss.”
We don’t call it “ownership,” we call it “employment.”
We don’t give out leftover food and shelter — we give out salaries, EMIs, and health insurance.
The illusion of freedom is far more efficient than the cruelty of force.
At least the slaves of the past knew they were not free. We, on the other hand, scroll LinkedIn posts about “work-life balance” and convince ourselves we are.