The Most Damnable Reason

The most damnable reason for existing 

Is to be liked. 

Do not exist for plaudits or platitudes

Or trophies or trinkets

Or customer surveys or likert scales

Or online reviews or stars or emojis

Exist to create beauty. 

Exist to accomplish justice. 

Exist to change the world. 

Exist to discover truth and goodness 

And wonder and awe 

And passion and inspiration

And then share that with others. 

But the person who yearns above all 

To be liked by adoring fans,

Who seeks to be merely nice, 

Is most of all to be pitied. 

And the organization that seeks above all 

To create a “positive customer experience”,

And merely entertain consumers, 

Is the most worthless of all organizations. 

And our consumer culture is awash 

In people to be pitied 

And organizations without any real worth.