Borrowed Musings, #2: Egos and Agendas

This phrase stuck in my head during a talk with another bonsai buddy on the turmoil surrounding British bonsai at the moment.  I claim no originality on this turn of phrase whatsoever.  That belongs to my mate.

But it does describe what to me seems to be the Number 2 Root of All Evils in the 21st century (the love of money being the Biblical Number 1, in case the allusion slips you by).  Especially in places in the West where the social structure can preclude the need for an income for those who wish to milk it in that way.  But let's not go down that route...

So where am I going with these musings?  Once upon a time, I would've expected that the law of the jungle ended within the workplace; one could then go home and de-stress with a nice cuppa (or a G&T even) and possibly get away from it all with a nice, creative hobby like painting or bonsai.  Not anymore.  The cutthroat attitude now extends to supremacy in the hobbysphere, I guess.  Or must one now reign supreme over everything - the hobbies, the kids, the in-laws, the pets, the golf buddies?  Or else, what?  A loss of face, a drastic decline in self-actualisation? 

So simplistically speaking - could this have something to do with compensating for the loss of status in the workplace?  Or similar?  Now that could lead to another random musing, like, should retirement be banned altogether as being hazardous to your neighbour's health and well-being?  Except that, I know lots of retirees who do bonsai, and not all of them are striving to climb up any status ladder of any bonsai-ic description.  Or perhaps psychological profiling should be done before people are allowed to leave the workplace?  Sounds like a really unpopular platform to me.....