Business Directory Special

Down the Road by Brian Brannagan

High School Grads - Whoppers and Choices

You young folk have, over the years, been told a lot of whoppers. You were told that a stork brings babies, and that there is a tooth fairy who gives you money for teeth, and that there is an Easter Bunny that delivers chocolate. You have even been told the fully-dressed whopper - double patty, extra cheese - that there is a Santa Claus.

And now, now that you are graduating from high school, you are being told what is the biggest whopper ever, that there is a dream you can follow, a passion you can embrace - that now you can do what you love.

Well, kids, that’s pretty much all claptrap, foolishness and balderdash. Many of you have probably spent a goodly amount of time shovelling that kind of stuff out of the barn to spread in the fields.

I would hazard a guess that most of the dreaming done by the graduating class has been about that young new French teacher or how you will become the biggest rock star ever or be as rich as Elon Musk.

(For me, it was the geometry teacherwowza.)

To put it very plainly - you don’t know enough right now to know what your lifelong dream is, what your enduring love is, and certainly not what consuming “passion” you will haveand mainly this is because you don't know what all your choices are.

At this point in your lives, you have a very limited world view.

It is pretty much guaranteed that what you are interested in now will change over the years as you mature and learn and develop new and other interests. Fashions change, technology evolves, that delightful young French teacher gets married (but not to you).

You are coming out of high school and that's pretty much like coming out of a dark cave into bright sunlight - you are blinded by the light and surprised by the vastness of the landscape in front of you and you are bewildered by the complexity of all you behold.

Some of you, maybe a lot of you, will be going on to trade school or university so you folks will have a pause before starting your adult life. The rest of you don't get that pause but all of you, now or eventually, will have to get acquainted with life in the real world.

You don't have to have an over-arching dream. You don't have to have an undying love. And for sure you don’t need a passion. But you do need to have a job. And you have to have a job because, you see, another whopper we have told you is that money is the root of all evil.

The truth is that it is the lack of money that is the root of all evil - it is the lack of money that causes hunger, thirst, disease and suffering. It is the lack of money that motivates people to commit criminal acts – to lie, cheat, steal and kill.

Money - your parents' money - has provided you with a roof over your head to keep you warm and dry, food on the table to feed and nourish you. Money - your parents' money - has been paid for the education you have which allowed you to graduate.

You see, the thing is, you graduates have already been living the dreamthe dream where somebody else takes care of you and fulfills your needs, the dream where somebody else pays the bills and you get free parking.

But now that you have graduated high school (or trade school or university) and are becoming young adults, you are going to have to take up that cost burden yourselves.

So, what can you do to maintain that standard of living, maybe even improve on it?

While dreaming and loving are definitely enjoyable pursuits, they don't always pay very well.

And it's pretty much impossible to love anything when, because of the lack of money, you are hungry and cold and tired - the lack of money causes nightmares, not dreams.

So instead of dreaming and loving, take a look around and see what you can do that will pay the bills.

You will have to learn and develop skills that are useful and marketable. This is true whether you learn on the job or go to trade school or university. And these things come with time - and effort.

The world is full of interesting things to do but they are not always easy to see - sometimes you have to look a little closer, dig a little deeper, work a little harder, to find the shiny stuff underneath. And sometimes what is shiny and desirable on the surface turns out to be, on closer inspection, not really all that attractive.

You might find that though a particular job choice is not particularly exciting or rewarding, it does pay the bills and allows you to follow other interests which are more fun but pay less well.

Keep in mind, however, that whatever you do, whatever job you havewhether it is at a fast-food restaurant in the mall or at the head office of the United Nations - all work is intrinsically good and honourable. The service you provide is of benefit to the recipient and it is of benefit to you because you are being paid for providing that service.

And if you don't like the job you have or the direction you're going, look around some more, develop different skills and get a different job, head off in a different direction.

You have choices.

Lots of choices.

Whatever you choose - it will be something more fun and exciting and rewarding than a dream - it will be a life.

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