Friday, June 04, 2004
what makes a career worthwhile?
I was always under the impression that in order to have a worthwhile occupation, you would do something related to what you liked to study. However, I'm not so sure about that. A lot of things that you love to read and think about make for frustrating jobs, as I'm finding out. I love being outside and cleaning up the Earth, but the desk job at the MPCA isn't ... really my thing. However, I really love the coffeehouse and I never tire of that job no matter what. Now honestly, how does that work? Even if my friends never came to visit, I'd love it. Shouldn't it be the other way around, that the more challenging, scientific internship beats out the college work study job? I think it takes a lot more to be satisfied at work than prestige or academic pursuits. If you can't really get the satisfaction of making anyone's day better through the work you do, then I find that I'm not really feeling satisfied with the job either. I think in the end, go to college, learn, find things you like to do and graduate. THEN, think about what you want to do, even if it has nothing to do with anything. I can always take hikes or monitor lakes for fun, but I doubt that I'd feel content devoting my life to it.
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"If you can't really get the satisfaction of making anyone's day better through the work you do, then I find that I'm not really feeling satisfied with the job either." Right on. Sometimes, though, seeing someone else being satisfied with the work you're doing takes longer than the few minutes it takes to make a bowl of Ramen. Sometimes it takes months. Or maybe years. I guess we all want that knowledge that what we're doing is making someone else's life better right away. Sitting at a desk doesn't really give us that. That doesn't mean that what you're doing isn't worthwhile. I guess I don't know your job description in detail, but I think that you are making an impact, though you might not get any sort of interaction for a long time. Just you and the desk. If only desks could talk. I bet it would say, "Thanks."
But it's good you're figuring out you don't want a desk job.
About college: I heard a story once about a man who sent his daughter to St. Olaf. His daughter majored in Classics. When she graduated, she came up to him with tears in her eyes and said, "Dad, I don't have a job." He said, "I didn't send you to college so you could have a job; I sent you to college so you could have an education."
Cheers,
Chris
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