What Will You Be When You Grow Up?

What you select for your life's work, who selects it, and when it is decided, has changed in the past century. 100 years ago, if you were a boy, you were told by your parents (father) what kind of work you would do when you grew up. If your father was a farmer, chances are you would be a farmer. If your father was a tailor, you would most likely be a tailor too. If you were a woman, you were told you would marry and raise a family. Very few women went to college, and very few women were in the work force. In the 1940's and 1950's, things began to change. During the war and thereafter, women were needed in the workforce, and women had more opportunity. After women got the right to vote, they couldn't be stopped, and with each generation women advanced: they went from nurses to doctors, from lab assistants to scientists, from bookkeepers to accountants, from secretaries to lawyers. Today, over half the work force is women, and they hold some of the most important jobs in the country. Parents are no longer telling their children what they should be when they grow up. Children no longer blindly follow what their parents want for them. I remember several contemporaries of mine that were steered into professions they didn't want, but their parents did, and the children didn't want to disappoint their parents. I knew several unhappy doctors and lawyers who ended up changing careers midlife. Most career decisions were made long before the child even entered high school. Perhaps the dream for a father of having a son who became a doctor was really what he wanted for himself but might not have had the opportunity or ability to achieve. So, he wants it for his son. Few people know early on what they want to be. That's what college is for. That's why I always felt a liberal arts education was so important. Open up the world to a child and let him decide what direction he wants to go, but let him make it when he's old enough to make an intelligent decision. Of my own three children, only Brian went into the profession he had prepared for in college. Both Phil and David majored in something entirely different than what they're doing today. I find it fascinating to watch children grow and mature, and try to figure out their path in life. I wonder what direction my grandchildren will take. In many respects the old fashioned way of determining your career was easier. You were told early on what you would be and that's what you did. However, it certainly must have created some angry young men and women, who were denied an opportunity to follow their dreams. If you have a passion for acting you must give it a try, otherwise you will wonder your whole life what you might have become. It's ok to fail, but it's not ok not to try.