Not a Paycheck

I grin as I write this because I am recalling the laugher generated from my conversation with a newer friend and collegue, Ollie Clarke. Ollie compared early life to war, where trenches are being dug out and each of us dig our own hole, sometimes with the help of others~and I'm going to add, perhaps in a field not of our own choosing. This is a metaphor for career search and hunt and very rarely, in youth, are we encouraged to follow our dreams, since these most definitely will result in low pay and virtually no upward mobility, or so we are told, and this is where the fear is implanted, the fear that survival is the number one goal and then the lie that when safety in the form of food and shelter are secured, THEN, you can live the life you have always dreamed about.  This is a classic form of projection, and it started in tough times, war times. A parents biggest fear is that their child will not be provided for and so, they encourage education, entry level jobs, ladder climbing and promotion, and just barely living because not everyone can make it to the "top", pecking order is established early on and we, and our kids, have been herded along and unwittingly been taught to believe that this is all there is in life.  Here I am, grinning again, because Ollie gave me a beautiful visual, him in a dug out trench, taking a peek over the top, and realizing the war is over and he could look around and see what else is out there?  I pictured a gofer, curious, poised and ready for adventure, scampering out of the hole and running wild and free.  Life is an adventure and I for one want my baby gofer (my 16 year old!) to run wild and free toward life purpose, not a paycheck.