Life lessons, fictional and otherwise

I am spending the morning reading about the last episode of The Wire on the web instead of working.

The theme of the triumph of the institution over the individual resonates a long way back for me. In my very first meaningful work experience, before I'd even graduated from high school, I learned the lesson that I've always thought of as "You should never love an institution because it can't love you back."

And yet, if you're the sort of person for whom meaningful work is crucial, who has to do a good job of something to feel like you exist, it's almost impossible not to repeatedly put yourself in the position where an institution can grind you down, break your heart and spit you out.

Someone remind me of this if the zoo ever calls about that job, OK?