COMMUNITY

We Shouldn’t Ask “What Do I Want To Be?”

We should ask, “Who do I want to help?”

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Life is inherently meaningless.

You wouldn’t think this would be the case, what with life being “precious” (depending on the particular scenario) and a “miracle”, et cetera, et cetera.

Still, we ooze out into the unflattering glare of hospital lighting without so much as an instructional leaflet in broken English (“You life now!”) and we’re expected to just figure it out.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I had no idea. Nothing? Is that an acceptable answer?

No, it is not. Neither is “writer” or “poet”. Unless you hide it under the hard shell of “journalist”.

I’ll never forget giving a guidance counselor conniptions in high school when I refused to commit my entire being to an occupational skills test. I had a 4.0 GPA and all the motivation of a slug that’s found a particularly moist rock under which to live.

Whatever the test was for — something about eye-hand coordination. Feels like sports. No, thank you — I half-assed it with an attitude turned to 11.