When I Grow Up
3/5/01 - I've noticed that people around me who are my age are starting to make plans for when they grow up. Some people are ready to join the work force full time and get starting making serious cash. Others want to travel around the world and pick out a place to live. Still some have plans for marriage and starting a life with that one special person. But not me. I still feel like I'm 6 and some grown up person is asking me "what do you want to be when you grow up?"
I honestly don't know. I guess I should get a job and make some money, buy a house and get married. Have a kid or two, raise them till they get off to college, then retire and fade away until I die. Sounds pretty pointless to me. I know there's a lot I can do, places to go and people to meet, but still it seems like I'm only doing this to satisfy society and not feel like so much of a loser.
Sometimes I think I started college just because everyone else was doing it. If everyone is doing it and those who aren't really want to, it can't be bad, right? But I do like knowledge, and I have learned a lot here, even if sometimes it seems overly difficult or unimportant. So I guess that's starting to pay off. But what will I do with this knowledge? I'd like to make some impact on the world, even if it's not major. Can I do anything useful with this "education" I'm buying? Let me think about what this country even does.
We have farmers that make food. That's good, we will all die if we don't have food, so it's good that we have people to make food. They deserve money. Then there are the people that make products we need to live, houses, chairs, tables, clothing, etc. That's good too, we need to be able to survive the elements and live in a somewhat clean environment. We need scientists to research the world. With that knowledge we can make medicines to combat the illnesses we can't avoid with our semi-clean environment. Scientists can also work on understanding the world, and predicting disasters. But other than this I think the rest of us do fun stuff that's not critical to our survival.
We have hundreds of thousands of people involved in the food industry. We have people to process it, box it, transport it, sell it, prepare it, serve it, clean the stuff we eat on, and throw the bad bits away. That's just the people to keep us alive. Then there's the housing industry. We pay people to design it, build it, sell it, manage it, keep it in good condition, and then demolish it when it gets old. Same for the funiture and basic necessity goods, like clothing. What I find sad is that we have so much time and money to spend on clothing we're no longer satisfied with making sure that clothes are functional and comfortable, but it has to be "cool" or "fashionable," which plainly I just don't understand. If I want to be "with it" I have to spend 4 times as much on something that feels only slightly better and will probably not last any longer? I'd rather save my money and buy good food than spend it on nice clothes. At least my body will be in better condition if I eat well. If I dress well I can look good but be malnourished. Great.
So that's a couple examples, but now I want to mention what I think of as "frivolous" jobs. Look at the entertainment industry. We pay tons of money for movies, sports, video games, and other stuff. It all started as just simple activities to entertain each other and ourselves, but it has grown tremendously. People used to go to the local Vaudeville show and see a dancer, or singer, or comedian, or something. We would play sports to get some good exercise, see our friends, and just do something fun. Now we pay money to watch a recording of a fancy vaudeville act, or pay even more to watch people play a sport very well. We don't have time to play ourselves. We never even meet the people playing. Yet instead of Bob down the street being know for his fancy basketball moves, it's Michael Jordan that everyone knows, and only kids have time for playing very much.
I don't mean to say everyone is lazy like that. I know lots of people that get out and do something on the weekends, I myself try to ride bike trails out at the local lake. But I know if everyone did that there'd be a lot more public sport arenas with a lot more people there.
I think I'll stop rambling and get to the point. I don't know what I want to do, but it seems like no matter what it is, it won't make much of a real difference. No one will go hungry if I don't do as well, so why bother with anything? If I could, I think I'd like to go live on a deserted island with a few good friends. We'd have to work to build a shelter, and hopefully there'd be enough food to survive. Now that I think about it, that might get boring, and I'd probably wish I had some books to read or study, and maybe some music to listen to. Ok, so my new plan is to get enough money to buy a nice little island, build a modest house there, have some good friend to live in and help me cook, a woman for every man, and maybe some new clothes every year just to replace the ones that wear out. Maybe a TV for those nights when we want to see entertainment outside the group. I wonder how many million I need for that. And how will I get that money? I guess finish college and get a job.... oh boy.-Luke