WHAT I LEARNED AT THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF WEST GEORGIA
Four and a half years later and not only am I not sure what I want to do or where I want to work but I'm not even sure if I want to work at all. What I do want to do is live. I want to live, live, live, and live some more. I want to break my arm snowboarding, get sunburned at the lake, get bit by a dog at the park, stub my toe at the pool, and get sand in my eyes at the beach. I want to breathe the smog, step in a fresh pile first thing in the morning, slam my fingers in the door, crash my bike into a tree and get arrested for loitering. I don't want to hear that annoying alarm clock first thing in the morning and I don't want to have to take a half-hour off for lunch. I want to be off 24-7.
About the only thing I have learned at school is that I don't want to waste my life working when there's so many things to do out there. Every minute I spend at work is another minute I've wasted. Why would I want to work? The only reason I can think of is that everybody else is doing it but I also learned early on that just because everybody else is doing something doesn't mean that you should too. "Be realistic," they'll say. "You have to work to support yourself." But what does that mean? To me it means I have to work so I can buy a new car, a nice house, a big screen TV, a pool table, or a new pair of Adidas. Those things would be great and if somebody offered them to me I would definitely accept them but should I trade in 8 hours a day for them? or do I have a better way of spending my time?
Let's listen to a real life example. Joanna is my old boss at the company where I did a co-op. She has a bachelor's degree, an unrewarding office job, a 2 year-old daughter, a 1999 Honda Accord, and an expensive new home. She drives the car to work so she can pay for the car. She works so that she can afford to pay for day care for her daughter, pay the mortgage on her new home and save enough money to take a vacation from work. Why does she do all this? I cannot think of a reasonable answer to this question. My only guess is that she works because she has a 4-year degree and if she didn't work she'd feel like she was wasting her degree. The mortgage, the day care, the vacation money and the car payment are only created by the job. Jobs seem to only create bills and problems. How can I avoid getting into the same situation that she is in? Maybe I should cut my losses and burn that diploma when they hand it to me at graduation.
