As a kid I was told to avoid strangers. It’s a rule that becomes more and more difficult as I grow older. Not only do I have an impaired ability to recognise people I’ve known for over two years (hence strangers are potentially people I should recognise) but I’ve also had some of the best conversations with odd people I’ll never meet again.
We’ve had Orientation over the last weeks and a lot of these conversations have run on similar lines. After the usual greetings we eventually get to this part:
ME: Sounds interesting. Why did you decide to study (x) course?
An unimaginative little question, but people’s answers to it have
started to throw me. One girl from Auckland University told me she
decided to study Commerce because she couldn’t make any money from an
Arts degree. She’d given up on being a writer.
Now, I’m not going to stand on my soapbox and declare that our study
shouldn’t be motivated by fiscal (look it up) gain. University fees do
need to be paid back and I’m not exactly inclined to a life of baked
beans and cold spaghetti.
What I want to question is whether we understand the cost of working.
Because all the talking I’ve been doing with students have suggested
that we don’t.
We invest years and thousands of dollars to educate ourselves for
specific types of work. Yet regardless of our field, what we will
probably end up doing is full time work. Yes, it’s an idiot answer, but
that’s the point. Eight hours a day, five days a week – once we leave
University the majority of our weeks, years and lives will be spent in
the workplace. The only activity likely to outweigh it is sleep.
Here’s the truth: our lives consist of time, and there isn’t an endless
supply. These moments spent typing at a screen– I’m literally giving my
life for these 500-odd words. Your ten minutes in reading this are
being subtracted from the total sum of your life. And do I really have
to mention that ‘the rest of your life’ could mean anywhere from eighty
years to an hour?
So caught up in our studies, so focused on claiming that ‘perfect’ job – are we too eager in signing our lives away?
The sad truth is that we need to provide for our physical needs, and
this will often overtake our higher aspirations. I won’t tell you not
to aim for a career that promises you a mountain of wealth at the end
of it.
What I will ask is that you make the decision carefully. Perhaps it is
better to bear financial securities for the opportunity to live as a
writer. Or it may be possible to do what you love to do outside of the
working hours of a career in commerce. But don’t climb the industry
ladder to find only wasted years and a list of should-have-done at the
top.
Perhaps I’m neither old or learned enough to give such advice. My only
aspirations are to provide for my needs, enjoy the small things and in
some way help other people as I go. Not exactly world-shaking, but I
can’t see them leaving me too many regrets.
