'What do you do?' is the most snobbish question I've encountered.

'What do you do?' is the most snobbish question I've encountered.

How does it matter? It matters because it helps others slot you into a hierarchy. It tells them how much respect and importance should be accorded to you.

Title and bank balance decide how much importance and respect you deserve. How much attention should be paid to you. 'Cause title and bank balance go to those who 'made it', right? Those who deserved it? Those who worked hard for it?

But, is that so?

If you step back a little and think: who decides where you are born? To whom you are born to? How much wealth you are born into? Which school you attend? What education you get? What skills gets valued in the market? Ultimately where you end up in life?

It is very easy to think, you are 'self made' and deserve your success. And, to relegate those who couldn't 'make it' as failures. Hence, titles and bank balance are good enough pointers that justify the importance given to us.

Unfortunately, meritocracy perpetuates that idea. Ignoring the point that everyone do not start on a equal footing. Ignoring the role of 'luck' in someone's life.

It takes 'humility' to realise that everything that happens to a person is not in their control.

And, that is why respect should be accorded to a person not by their social standing, job or money they make, but, by the values they stand for and the dignity they bring to their labour.

It is time to rethink the question 'what do you do?'