Throwing Couches Off of Balconies

Today I threw a couch off a balcony. There was a completely legitimate reason to do so, but somehow the reason seemed besides the point. I even have a video of it, but I haven't yet figured out how to upload it.

I like to think that throwing a couch off a balcony is its own reason for doing so. Aristotle called these "goods of first intent." "Goods of second intent," by contrast, are things that are only good for accomplishing other things; no one buys a hammer just to have a hammer, but to hammer a nail in a wall; and you don't even want the nail, but to hang a picture of your fam; and you don't even want that, you want to be happy, and happiness is a good of first intent. "Goods of second intent" are the means, while "goods of first intent" are the ends.

But why can't the sheer thrill of hammering stuff be a good of first intent as well? I read that lots of construction workers are having trouble finding work nowadays in part because they refuse to re-train for a new field; they just love hammering stuff, its a good of first intent for them, and that they build houses doing so is a good of second intent, the means of how they can get paid to keep doing goods of first intent. I once worked construction, I wasn't that good at it, but I do understand that thrill of hammering, the joy of making something with your own bare-hands.

I also understand because I'm an English grad student, and I'm constantly having to justify why I do what I do. I'm currently a Writing Fellow for the Office of Vice-President of Research, helping professors and grad students in the sciences copy-edit grant proposals and proof-read dissertations. It's a job I'm glad I have. But part of why I'm glad to have it is because its something to point at when I'm inevitably questioned as to the utility of my degree.

Now, English is certainly useful; clear writing and communication will always be important skills in any profession. But that's not why I study English; I do it cause I enjoy it, for me it's a good of first intent, and like construction workers, I'm constantly having to figure how to get people to keep paying me to do so. And I'm not so naive as to preach how we all need to just do what we love and let life work out; I have bills to pay, I've been broke before, and I have to live with the fact that my means is someone elses end and vice-versa, and I need to justify my ends to their means.

But then I throw a couch off a balcony, and I have a completely legitimate reason to do so, but its also beside the point; the reason is the means, the action is the end. I should throw couches off balconies more often. It makes me happy.