Posted on 01/26/2007 2:07:25 PM PST by shrinkermd
The most miserably unsatisfied people I know are in a job they should never have entered. Sometimes it was a promise of money, or the sound of the job title.
My childhood best friend was told that he should be an Electrical Engineer. So after a long struggle, he got the EE. The fact is, he had no talent or intuitive understanding of it, and by the age of sixty could STILL not comfortably use a computer. He struggled all his life and never got anywhere, going from one bad situation to worse ones, till he spent the last decade in temp agencies. He hated his work, but would never consider trying something else.
He was miserable and unhappy, and died of a stroke last June.
The fact was, the job hated HIM, because he was a bad engineer.
In our culture, a person _IS_ what they do. It is one of the most important attributes of a person.
That is why there are names like "Fletcher", "Collier", "Hooper", "Schmidt", "Schumaker","Cooper", "Baker", and "Eisenhower"!
You're braver than I. I was just happy to be able to work on a Reference Desk. I know how tough I was on my Profs back at USC (The REAL USC...Univ of South Carolina that is).
Good one,but really,I have seen way too many successful people lose it all over very bad choices because of their own inner turmoil.
One example-young man,26,heir to one of the most famous ski resorts in the country,family worth milions,gets addicted to smack and blows his head off with a shotgun.
Whereas myself,working class and understanding the paradoxes of life,realize my demons are always going to be there so can deal with whatever,be it a cancer diagnosis,mobs of kids bum rushing a student and beating him down in my classroom,or coming to terms with losing my neice's one year old baby to illness.
Tiger has it made?Perhaps.Lots of people think money and a fine wife is the end all of life.Yet those things can be the downfall of a man just as often as being his salvation.
Television?What a joke.I will never forget Fred Silverman of ABC saying in an interview that the television industry tailors their programming to a Seventh Grade mentality.
I think he's wrong about that.I say FIFTH GRADE mentality.
God bless you with many, many enjoyable retirement years. As you know, I am sure, retirement simply means retiring from a formal, paid occupation, and has nothing to do with retiring from life. For some, these years can be some of the best and most fruitful and even happiest years of one's life.
Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show
you A-flat miner.
So now you advocate dropping pianos on teenagers? :P
"Television?What a joke.I will never forget Fred Silverman of ABC saying in an interview that the television industry tailors their programming to a Seventh Grade mentality.
I think he's wrong about that.I say FIFTH GRADE mentality."
HAHAHA!! That you sent this reply to a FIRST GRADE teacher--me--makes this statement hilarious. I should report that MOST DVD's I rent and watch of old TV series are 80's ones. I would rather watch unrealistic ones like MacGyver, the A-team, and the Dukes of Hazzard rather than some of the garbage they have today.
"Good one,but really,I have seen way too many successful people lose it all over very bad choices because of their own inner turmoil.
One example-young man,26,heir to one of the most famous ski resorts in the country,family worth milions,gets addicted to smack and blows his head off with a shotgun.
Whereas myself,working class and understanding the paradoxes of life,realize my demons are always going to be there so can deal with whatever,be it a cancer diagnosis,mobs of kids bum rushing a student and beating him down in my classroom,or coming to terms with losing my neice's one year old baby to illness.
Tiger has it made?Perhaps.Lots of people think money and a fine wife is the end all of life.Yet those things can be the downfall of a man just as often as being his salvation."
I agree completely. Those who have the most sometimes "have the least." Around me neighborhood, the biggest complainers are often the more well-off ones. How WE OURSELVES deal with things gives a measure of our true happiness, something I'll have to keep in mind as I'm probably going to lose quite a bit in the next few months.
Have you ever noticed that those kids who have cancer or other illnesses are sometimes the ones who complain the least? We have a girl at our school who suffered brain damage from a river rafting accident. I've never seen such an incredible attitude as the family and the little girl have shown. She's invigorated our whole school with her efforts. The dad has made a VERY lasting impression on me--no matter how bad I have it, there's always someone who has it worse and they deal with it pretty well.
So now you advocate dropping pianos on teenagers? :P
Only if they are under age 12.
Work is a paycheck nothing more. Too many pansies out there think it is imperative to have a dream job that they love. Really what they want is to be emotionally fulfilled. And a job will never do that.
Only if they are under age 12.
under age 18 you mean. Actually, we've got a high school by us that has the Miners as its mascot.
I guess that would give new meaning to the word "making a strike."
"Too many pansies out there think it is imperative to have a dream job that they love."
Dumb flowers anyways.
It's better when things come up roses--dang those pansies. I do have a fondness for tulips though.
Hey,I'm hooked on Leave it to Beaver,Donna Reed and Room 222.
Tired of all the lurid sleaze.Give me some old fashioned naivete anytime.
Yep,struggle and adversity can make for a much stronger person.
One of the most insidious trends of the Sixties was the tendency of parents who grew up in the Depression to "make sure my kids don't have to do without like I did".So they ran interference when the kid got into trouble,didn't make them work for their spending money,and tolerated laziness and complacency.
When you think about it there is a similiarity between the welfare dependent-government handout mentality in some ghetto residents and the rich white kid syndrome of"the world is mine by birthright".I don't know which upsets me more.
Knew a kid at Tahoe named David.By the time he was twenty he was the father of three illegitimate kids and bragged about that fact.Who payed the child support? David's Daddy!
The same daddy who used to harp at cocktail parties about"Negros in the ghetto with their loose morals"
Things that make you go hmmmmmmm!!
"Hey,I'm hooked on Leave it to Beaver,Donna Reed and Room 222.
Tired of all the lurid sleaze.Give me some old fashioned naivete anytime."
I like Andy Griffith too. I actually like the creative storylines that they used to be able to come up with in the old shows that didn't need to have all of the sex and other stuff to make a point or to entertain.
Hey Opie, quit tooting your own horn. :P
Sounds more like a nightmare to me!
You've hinted at a problem that I have trouble dealing with nowadays too. My parents taught us that we were responsible for how we did in life and to do the "little things" like to be thankful for what we had, to be positive and deal with things rather than sit and complain, to respect and treat others civilly even if they disagree with us, to be honest in our dealings with others, to not blame others for our weaknesses and problems in life, etc. Such has helped me deal with the fact that I may never have the opportunity to raise a child, something I DO want more than just about anything.
What I DO realize is that I can still serve others and that I already have a lot to be thankful for. What I DON'T realize is how people who have kids and reasonable circumstances sometimes can complain so much.
We had 8 kids in 3 bedrooms growing up and it was no big deal. Most people I know can't even fathom that today. EVERY kid has his/her own room. Some can shuffle their kids to every sports event possible and other things, but say they have no time for homework. Some can have all the latest gadgets and many other possessions, but whine about how they can't afford some things.
You are right though--we need to look at the adults, not just the kids.
Hey Opie, quit tooting your own horn. :P
Aunt Bea, what are you doing online at this time of day?:P
Well, no DUH!
I am a mortgage loan officer. I enjoy it most of the time, do well at it (most of the time) and it pays a hell of a lot better than the last job I had.
Doesn't mean it's my "dream" job. My dream job is to surf the internet all day and get paid $400,000 a year doing it. Doesn't mean it's gonna happen.
;-)
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