A propos of nothing in particular this afternoon I was poring through my memories reflecting on my work experience. I started working between 30 and 35 hours a week at age 18 while I was going to college. Summers after graduating from high school until I’d finished grad school I worked full time. Sometimes I worked more than full time.
When I got out of graduate school I also graduated to from 50 to as many as 90 hours per week (for about a month I worked 100 hours a week) and I worked at that pace for roughly the next 10 years. I cut back about then to 40 or 50 hours per week and I’ve been there for decades.
That’s a lot of time spent working.
One of the things I like about this site is Dave’s relaying personal stuff.
Lord knows we are in an impersonal society. And the internet? Well.. IMHO this brings life to the interchange.
So at the risk of the Big Bore.
I, too, started working at an early age. I did the piddly crap. Bus boy, etc. But I learned early on: sacrifice and committment = reward.
Then I was lucky. I hooked up with an outfit that made paint recovery systems (stills, actually) when I was a freshman in college. The firm was small and entrepreneurial (the firm was called “DCI” – Durr and Clay Investments, after the owners); and they had demand. I could work summers, Christmas break, spring break and on. So I never did the college break thing. I worked every day I could. Helped put myself through school. I saw how capitalism worked. What you do to get ahead vs bitch about those who did. And so for me, this was the way the world worked. Its about values. Better values were never learned.
Editorial remark: I don’t see these values in so much of today’s younger people. I know that’s cliche. I invite rebuttals. But entitlement, not access to opportunity, is the theme these days.
Musing about a related moral issue: Our daughter was a “Gerber Baby.” She was born with a thick shock of hair, and had “the look” that Gerber baby food people wanted. So millions of Gerber baby food boxes and jars have my daughter’s face on them. Since then, she has been in the “modelling business.” 11 years now. You can see her in American Girl Doll catalogues and in their store materials. She has numerous other retailer credits, and a couple commercials. The point is: “is this right?”
She calls it her “career.” And she has learned valuable lessons early in life: 1) you might have to make sacrifices (miss so and so’s birthday party) to pursue this, 2) you show up on time, practiced and prepared, 3) you perform, or someone else will. So far, the talent agencies love her and she enjoys it. She performs.
But is this too early? Mind you, we are not stage parents. I have no use for this. I simply tolerate it. The missus is driving it. But I have to admit these may be life lessons that are invaluable and, well, last a lifetime. I see so many young people sleepwalking through life, and their careers. I juxtapose my experiences.
Its hard to know what’s right.