I'm going to be a poor, disadvantaged man with a degree in English...or so my dad likes to imply.
It's hard for me to fully please him. Ever since I was young, I've shown him my short stories and poetry and he was my number 1 fan. My dad even sent a completed story to my cousin who is an editor at Newsweek in New York, and even he said I have potential. So my dad knows of my passion in writing and there's at least something there.
I had this friend in High School, Caleb, who told my dad he is aspiring to become a doctor. My dad was amazed at his ambitions and his strong look into his future. That led him turning to me, saying: You need to find a path for yourself. You can't get anywhere in life without a passion. Your passions lie in your bike riding and spongebob. That's going to get you nowhere in life. I kept reminding him that I haven't found the right path for me yet. He always seemed to be disappointed in my apathy.
Senior year came, and I had so many options flowing through my mind. I wanted to be a music marketer, a psychologist, and a teacher. Every time I told my dad about my possibilities, he always asked why I couldn't take it one step farther. If you want to be a music marketer, you need to organize local shows. There is no jobs in teaching. You need a lot of schooling for psychology. With every opportunity I presented, he always seemed to shoot it down.
That's why one of the main reasons why I entered Bradley as an undecided major, I didn't know what I could do with myself. That all changed a couple of weeks ago when I changed my major to English/minor in Creative writing.
This all leads to the conversation last weekend in a Chinese restaurant with my mom and dad. He shot down my choice like he was the one in control of my future. Where are you going to be with that degree after college? There's no teaching jobs and you can't get money just being a writer. I was tired of just taking it all in a letting it simmer. I told him that college is an opportunity to learn what I want to learn and if I don't like what I'm learning, then there's no way in hell I'm going to keep interested. I'm sorry if that means I'm going to be a bum on the street, at least I received the opportunity to go to college. My dad always likes to bring up the future as if today isn't a real day. I don't live for 20 years from now, I live for today.
What's the point of today if it's constantly spent with our head in the unforeseeable future?
Sam
I just met a man yesterday who didn't know what he wanted to do until he was 32 years old. He got a degree in journalism. Did that for 2 years. Quit that. At 22 or 24-ish he became a film maker. Quit that. Then trained as a modern dancer for 2 years. Performed with a company for 4 years. Quit that. Then found out he really loved writing. He entered into an MFA program at 32 years old for Creative Writing and now he's the head of the Creative Writing department here at Ohio University.
ReplyDeleteYou'll. Be. Just. Fine. Sam.
More people believe in you than I think you realize.