What Are You Supposed To Do With Your Life?

"You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU...WILL...ATONE! [calmly] Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?"

When I was a kid, I dreamed of being a professional baseball or football player. Unfortunately, I never had the size or pure athletic ability to go with my desire. I am doing reasonably well. I'm not where I want to be in terms of a career, but I'm working on it. I am working towards getting a degree in physical education and perhaps teach it or go into coaching. Then again, ten years ago, I had dreams of working in the movies or producing music videos. But then there was a layoff, didn't get calls back in spite of sending out hundreds of resumes, you know the drill. What can I say? I should have been born in the earlier half of the 20th century, not the later half. So if my own past experiences are any indication, I expect my current plans to be disrupted by forces outside my control. I am not loaded with money nor did I descend from the royal families of Europe. I'm rich in terms of how I look at the world and my ideas about how to make things better. I've come to realize my purpose doesn't involve being famous, rich or even to be acknowledged. I'm answering to a higher calling. Over the past number of years, my mind has thought less in terms of what I wanted to be when I grow up and more to do with the world at large. In fact, I've even given a great deal of thought to how the galaxies are formed and the age of the universe. It makes me realize that in comparison, we are microscopic and that our natural lives on Earth amounts to a few seconds.

We think that more education or getting a college degree will solve our problems. But it is no secret that something is seriously lacking in the education field. How many people are just going through the motions and collecting a paycheck? How many people have a college degree, yet they can't even get a job cleaning dishes or houses? I don't think the problem is with teachers per se, but a system that punishes success and creativity and rewards partisanship and failure.

Clearly, something is wrong, bad wrong. Sadly, most people are so stuck in their ways that they refuse to change for the better. Fortunately, I came to realize we were heading in this direction at the turn of the century. We have not a free-market economy, but a combination of communism and fascism rolled up into one. This can be traced back to the so-called Progressive Era. You have to get the government's "permission" to get married, tie your shoes, pray to your God, etc... If the bureaucrats don't give you permission, I guess you are out of luck. Real substantial change will have to come at the grassroots level, not the top down. Until enough people understand this, we can forget about improving the national or international situation anytime soon. Hopefully on an individual level, you can go about freeing yourself so as not to get pinned down or killed by the zombies.

So if you had no obstacles standing in your way, what would you do with your life? Would you be playing professional baseball, running a dance studio, or baking wedding cakes? Perhaps the 21st century should be about doing what YOU want to do and not allow obstacles to stand in your way whether real or imagined. Don't let someone else plan your life. Follow your heart! Short-term, it will be frustrating and painful, but there could be a pot of gold at the end of the road.

So I've taken the following quote by Fox Mulder to heart: "Whatever happened to playing a hunch, Scully? The element of surprise, random acts of unpredictability? If we fail to anticipate the unforeseen or expect the unexpected in a universe of infinite possibilities, we may find ourselves at the mercy of anyone or anything that cannot be programmed, categorized or easily referenced."