Do you feel fulfilled?
Today the Washington Post published an article titled Fulfillment Elusive for Young Altruists in the Crowded Field of Public Interest.
I found this part the most interesting.
"They say the high competition for comparatively low-paying jobs saps their sense of adulthood, forcing them to spend their 20s or early 30s moving from college to work to graduate school and back to work that might or might not be temporary.
These wannabe world-changers, ubiquitous in Washington, New York and San Francisco, appear to be part of a larger demographic trend in which this age group is pushing off marriage and kids. The do-gooders' wanderings often clash with the expectations of parents who want them to stay longer in jobs and settle down."
I guess if a car, house, marriage, and kids an adult make, then I am not. (Now, do these things qualify Britney as someone who has a sense of adulthood? I know I'm oversimplifying, but still.)
I feel like if anything, it's made me face adulthood much sooner than a cushy job or more schooling would have. I've learned to plan, I've learned to push forward in some situations (or through people, as the case may be), I've seen and experienced more of the world. Given that I had a sheltered upbringing and went to school in a place we lovingly called a bubble, this was how I grew up.
I guess I could be making tons of money as an IP lawyer in China. But then I wouldn't have you guys...
posted by suzaaku @ 11:01 PM
3 Comments:
Time for a rant.
I think this is another nonstory that is only possible in a society where we can complain even when our lives are relatively good. The Washington Post did another piece about the pitfalls of nonprofit work awhile ago (sense a trend?), and quoted a woman who was waiting to have kids until she could persuade her organization to adopt a parental leave program. That is an interesting challenge for someone committed doing to anti-poverty work. The people in this story, not so much.
First, because every few months we read a new story about a group of people (almost always women) who are unhappy. The old standby is the corporate women, who have been unhappy without kids and with kids, with careers and while staying at home. They also tend to be unhappy whenever they try to shift from one arena to the other. The backlash around The Opt-Out Revolution was enough to keep feminists buzzing for a solid year.
So, now that we’ve established that the corporate women are unhappy, let’s reverse the set up. If only the nonprofit chicks were working for corporate America, they would be happy, established, and feel like “real adults”. Alas, their lives are directionless too.
Here’s what I took from this article: you can't graduate from college, work for a nonprofit and make $200k a year. And shockingly, you won't be the Deputy Director of a national organization after a year or two as the program assistant. And more shockingly, dropping another $100k on a marginally useful graduate degree still won't get you that promotion and huge raise. And yes, you may have to compete with other people for your job.
So which part doesn’t make you a real adult—the part where you have to work for your opportunities, which may or may not be waiting on a silver platter for you? Or the part where you don’t automatically get lots of money, despite being a really great and smart person?
Sounds a lot like adulthood to me.
Yeah, when I first read this, I thought..."that's kind of interesting, it describes the situation of a lot of people I know." But the more I've muddled it around, the more annoyed I get about the sense of entitlement it implies. Just because you want to do good in the world, that means you should automatically get the job of your dreams and make good money doing it. And while we're at it, you should be guaranteed to find the love of your life. Blech.
I can certainly relate to the struggle to find a path/career/direction in life, but I think Ramona is on to something with this trend of finding groups who are "unhappy." It's getting old.
I have a hard time understanding why someone who gets paid more than the average American to do work that also has karmic benefit can be this whiny.
Finding a path/career/direction in life is difficult, Nancy, for sure I think all four of us have struggled with that recently.
But do/did any of us think that path needed to be laid before us, without any work on our behalf, with a $200K salary attached?
The answer. No.
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