Stupid Yellow Sun

Sometimes we just stumble through our lives. I would say that we rarely plan what is going to happen in anything other than a general way. I know, you are going to say that I went to university or college and took this course or that course in order to become…blah, blah, blah.

If we really stuck to our plans, I would have been superman and the people that I know would be nurses, firemen, circus performers or candy store owners. When I went to high school, you had to decide in grade nine which direction you wanted to be streamed, arts and science or business and commerce. My parents kind of coerced me into the business stream. Bad choice! I couldn’t have cared less about how businesses are run then or now. I suppose that all knowledge is worthwhile, but to date I haven’t needed to dredge up most of what I learned. Speaking of high school, how retarded was the school careers advisor? I can’t believe he only knew of about ten jobs, eight of them needed university and the other two involve menial office work or labouring.

Garbage men make good money. Mailmen do too. Vending machine operators don’t do too badly. The point is all the advisor had to do was say look around in the world, everything that is getting done or needs doing has to have someone to do it! His job should have been to point out that without a strong background in science then an astronaut would be a stretch. If you are terrified of dogs then a career in veterinary sciences or mail delivery could be a bad choice. He should have told us that whatever gives us joy is what we should pursue. I know that the councillor would have run into parental pressure to have their babies follow them into the car sales, restaurant or manure collection businesses.

I met a young man a while back who was the son of my old neighbours. I asked him how his mom and dad were doing and he told me OK, but he doesn’t see them as much as he would like. Now, this young fellow was a handful to say the least while he was in high school, nothing serious but he was just a pain in the ass to his parents and probably gave them most of their grey hairs. I chuckled and then asked if he had found happiness in his life? He said that “Yes he was very happy, he had a wonderful wife that loved him, a beautiful baby and he loved his job in construction.”

“Good for you, you have the world by the tail.”

 “Yeah”, he said “That’s the problem. Mom and dad say that they just want me to be happy, but only if I am happy being a lawyer, doctor or some other professional, not in construction.”

I wished him well, and haven’t seen him from that day till this. We all want the best for our children, but at some point we have to let them find their own joy. Maybe that is the hardest part of being a parent, letting the kids become the people that they are destined to be.

The worst day of my life was the day that the careers advisor told me that since I hadn’t been born on a planet with a red sun my chance of being Superman was very slight. Hmmmmm…What does that dick know? He was wrong about everyone that I knew, and I am a super guy! Really! No, really!