We aren't the bright-eyed innocents anymore. Shrugging our shoulders and pouting our lips in an apathetic apology to our instructors just plain doesn't cut it if we fail. We're "the second-years" now. No more messing around. No more excuses. No more unanswered questions.
Speaking of unanswered questions, I've been having the same conversation for about 20 years now, at least once a week. Sometimes with another person, sometimes internally; always the same question:
What do you want to be when you grow up?
I hated the question when I was five and I hated it recently, when an assignment asked the same thing. -- of course, it wasn't framed in those exact words -- instead, this time, we were asked "What are your goals? videojournalist? Shooter/editor? Freelancer? On-air personality?"
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| I miss these days, when staying inside the lines was the only thing I had to worry about. |
The short answer, for me, is All Of The Above, so why is it still such a frustrating endeavour to endure this inner-dialogue?
I think it's probably because I don't want to do any one thing for the rest of my life. People change, (me especially) and the prospect of walking one path for the rest of my life frightens and frustrates me.
But I believe I've figured out why.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" and "Who are you going to be to this world?" aren't the same questions, and I've been treating them as if they were. That's frustrating because there will never be an answer to the latter of the two questions. That's for history to dictate.
I think we should stop asking kids in Kindergarten what they're going to be when they grow up, not-so-subtly insinuating that What You Do = Who You Are.
It isn't. At least, it shouldn't be.
What You Do is determined by, simply, what you do; whereas Who You Are ought to be determined by the content of your character; how you treat others, how you contribute to your community and your society, and the legacy that you leave behind.
I'll aim to be a good person, to treat everyone with at least a modicum of respect, and basically leave every person/place better off than how I found them. I'll aim to be remembered fondly.
That's what I want to be when I grow up.
-NxB
Listening to: "Madness" by Muse
A better goal than any career.
ReplyDeleteSide note: I wouldn't have pegged you for the kid who worried about staying inside the lines. :)
I worried about it, I was just incapable of actually DOING it haha
DeleteThanks for the read Nolan. . it's something that troubles so many, but isn't always discussed out of the fear of not having answers. . . fav quote ever, it says a lot more than it says.
ReplyDelete“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
John Lennon
Thanks for taking the time Matt!
DeleteLove the quote, too; Lennon is a genius.