The Judge: He makes a ruling on the midlife male’s tough questions
Hustle culture? Yes or BS?
My sister has three sons—two of them love sports; the other is super into music. My wife and I really enjoy attending all of their events. Those boys call me Juncle (one of them fused judge and uncle together when they were little, and it stuck).
Well, one time, Juncle was watching one of their hockey games—the middle kid was maybe 9 or 10 or something, and he was a pretty good skater and player. He got a little bump from one of the kids on the other team, lost the edge of his skates, and then fell. That took him out of the play.
So the other team had the puck, and everybody was watching the play develop. I had one eye on the puck and one eye on the kid who was way behind the action. Damn if I didn’t see the kid flying—like supersonic speed—back to cover the open guy. The team didn’t score, and I promise you not one other person in the stands would ever say that the kid had any effect on the outcome of that play (or the game) because he skated back hard.
But I know he did.
Here’s the deal: A bunch of dongs have hijacked the term hustle culture. The way they see it, you need to peacock that you’re working all the time. It’s a badge of honor if you take no days off, work all the time to get what you want, and you get to brag that you earned it because you rose, you grinded, and you now get to live the life you want (except for the fact that you now have to project that you’re working all the time).
But you know what kid did? He hauled ass when nobody was watching—because it mattered.
That’s the way we should work. We do our jobs. We work, we strive. We pay honor to the roles we have—and the men we are—because it matters to the people around us. We don’t do it for likes, for “brand development,” for the hashtag.
We excel because we want to be models for our children. We work so we can enjoy the financial fruits of our labor. We go forward because our legacies matter.
So hustle culture the way some of these people today define it? It’s BS.
Hustle culture the way that the kid defined it? Hell yes.
