My Neanderthal Life

I have been contemplating the oddness of life in the 21st century lately. Why have we become so defined by what we do, rather than who we are? It's usually the first thing new acquaintances want to know about us. "What do you do?" they ask. I am often stumped for a reply. Of course they want to know what I receive a pay check for. Am I a lighting designer, store clerk, elephant bather, financial consultant (god, no)? Do I spend my days doing menial tasks or sitting at a desk? That's really what people are asking, I think. They want to know one's social status. They want to know if the person they're talking to is worth talking to.
I think this is decidedly strange, considering that for most of history homo sapiens and their predecessors did the hunter gatherer thing. Like dogs and wolves, there were spurts of major activity to find food, then once it was found and eaten, everybody kind of hung out, just being. That is what I imagine, at any rate.
And this leads me to ponder: why can't we all just leave ourselves and others alone about what we do? Is it not good enough that we are alive and kicking, and able to appreciate our lives, and tulips and grass and pudding and silk and boots and yellow and fireflies and dancing and soft and each other? At the end of our lives will it satisfy us more that we got a lot of raises, or that we went to Nova Scotia once and camped on a cliff with a lover and saw whales leaping in the Bay of St. Lawrence?
Would not a better question be "What do you like to do?" on meeting a new acquaintance? It opens up so much more possibility to see into a person's life. So I like to indulge in this kind of pre-civilizationary thinking, and imagine my Neanderthal self. What would I most admire about myself and my life? (Sparky thinks it's a crack-up that I say "And another thing I admire about myself is..." Like all of us he is unused to anyone blatantly admitting there is anything to admire about themselves.) So the exercise of the day is My Neanderthal Life, in which we ask ourselves what we would appreciate most in our lives if we look through our Neanderthal eyes, and shed our appreciation of fancy cars and big screen TVs and the like(which we'd fear as Neanderthals, most probably)? Would it be our strong legs that carry us on our hunt through the supermarket most days? Would it be our good vision, with which we spot our child playing in the bush without our consent and oblivious to danger? Would it be the shade on a hot day, where we can sit and read Jane Austen? Would it be, simply, hot fish fresh off the grill, and roasted sweet corn? Look through your Neanderthal eyes. Pay attention. Write it, draw it.