what to think of it all?

Some days, today being one of them, I am completely flabbergasted at my society. I really don't mean to seem condescending or self-righteous, for I'm as much a part of it as anyone else. Having said that, it truly confounds me that people feel they absolutely have to work their fingers to the bones in the city so that they can have a nice house outside of it where they can raise their kids hiding them from the savage rat race until they are then cruelly demanded to step up and do the same. This is even more confusing when one considers that they spend a unhealthy portion of their day trapped in a car commuting between the two locations killing the planet and their peace of mind in the process. It always reminds me of the sign that was hung on the entrance to Auschwitz: "Arbeit Macht Frei" (The work will set you free). Granted it's an extremely different circumstance than a concentration camp. However, the motto and it's insidious implications are still very pertinent. I feel that in many ways it is the crux of what happened to make the European and later the American psyche so utterly unique, or to my thinking, deranged. This deeply held cultural belief that by keeping our bodies and minds busy with all sorts of labor we will somehow fulfill our purpose in existing. Max Weber called it the 'Protestant Work Ethic', and maybe he was right. However I think its more of a result of the bloodthirsty culture that was created in which might makes right and only the strong should survive. A sort of spiritual social Darwinism in which people who are more inclined to reflection and contemplation are pushed aside to make room for those who would sacrifice anything for money, power, prestige and the like. It was this sort of thinking that led to Imperialism and the subsequent spread of this way of life like a plague the world over. I truly feel deep down that all people still long for a life that they can make sense of and be proud of. Not this sort of all consuming lifestyle in which we have to struggle to find time to spend with our families,take care of our bodies and ponder lives many mysteries. Many people turn to religion these days as a refuge from this tidal wave of desire and hope that the hereafter will consist of all the things we denied ourselves in this existence. Such thinking is destructive in my mind because it makes people justify their careless behavior with their time on earth thinking that they will have an eternity in the next to just lounge about in heaven basking in glory. It all seems like a cruel ruse to keep people from realizing the true preciousness of the days they so mechanically fill with busywork. Perhaps I'm just lazy and am looking for a justification for feeling like that life just isn't for me. But maybe, just maybe, there is something better for all of us out there and we are just to damned preoccupied to see it...