The Promise of a Generation
My life has been one of promise amounting only to mediocrity. That needs to change.
There comes a point in a man's life, or a woman's life, depending on your sex, where he is on the edge. The edge of a precipice, the edge of a knife, the edge of something, and this something is truly and undeniable important. This is what separates the men from the boys, so to speak, what differentiates between those who amount to something in this life and those who never amount to anything. And, I'd really rather not fall into the latter category.
I know that it's very possible I've taken the first few steps along this edge, and I'm teetering back and forth between finding what I need to find for self-fulfillment and being unable to find my niche.
In a meeting recently I was told that there comes a time when someone has to decide on their niche, that thing which they want to do for the rest of their life. Or, at least, that thing that they should focus on at this stage in their life. And I'm in the middle of the process of discovering what that thing is for me. I'm not sure what I want to focus on, in education or in life.
My problem has been, partially, that I have always considered myself a generalist. I never wanted to be a specialist; I would much rather know little bits of information about lots of things than a ton of information about one or two specific things. In this day and age, however, that doesn't fly, so to speak. You can either get with the picture and carve our a niche for yourself or wind up unhappily spending the rest of your life floating from job to job and relationship to relationship. You need that focus, if only to give you a sense of purpose.
And the question for me is, what should be my focus? What do I, deep in the very core of my being, wish to specialize in? And, am I ready to make that decision, only knowing what little I know? I have so much yet to learn, and so little time in which to do it.
My life, one which could be infinitely better than it is right now, has stumbled. I have mounted the ladder of success only to get stuck a bit above the bottom rung, but I hope and think that I'm about to find my footing. And I need that footing, that grounding, in order to continue.
Lately, I've been intrigued by a combination of issues, from International Ethics to U.S./E.U. relations to the philosophical underpinnings of a liberal society and the problems inherent in liberalism. Part of me is compelled to ask 'Why should the Right have pre-emenence over the Good? Is not the Good far more important?' Part of me wants nothing to do with that question, since the realm of philosophy is one which causes me enormous amounts of grief. Yet I chose to study philosophy and politics because the two are intimately connected and I am called by them.
If I ask the question 'Isn't the Good prior to the Right in terms of importance? Shouldn't the Good be prior to the Right?' how do I narrow it down? How do I make that manageable? For a div3, what can I do, what real world issue, will allow me to explore that question by exploring that issue?
Basically, where I begin is with the question 'Do we, as human beings, have a responsibility to other human beings?' Where I go from there, however, is a mystery.
There comes a point in a man's life, or a woman's life, depending on your sex, where he is on the edge. The edge of a precipice, the edge of a knife, the edge of something, and this something is truly and undeniable important. This is what separates the men from the boys, so to speak, what differentiates between those who amount to something in this life and those who never amount to anything. And, I'd really rather not fall into the latter category.
I know that it's very possible I've taken the first few steps along this edge, and I'm teetering back and forth between finding what I need to find for self-fulfillment and being unable to find my niche.
In a meeting recently I was told that there comes a time when someone has to decide on their niche, that thing which they want to do for the rest of their life. Or, at least, that thing that they should focus on at this stage in their life. And I'm in the middle of the process of discovering what that thing is for me. I'm not sure what I want to focus on, in education or in life.
My problem has been, partially, that I have always considered myself a generalist. I never wanted to be a specialist; I would much rather know little bits of information about lots of things than a ton of information about one or two specific things. In this day and age, however, that doesn't fly, so to speak. You can either get with the picture and carve our a niche for yourself or wind up unhappily spending the rest of your life floating from job to job and relationship to relationship. You need that focus, if only to give you a sense of purpose.
And the question for me is, what should be my focus? What do I, deep in the very core of my being, wish to specialize in? And, am I ready to make that decision, only knowing what little I know? I have so much yet to learn, and so little time in which to do it.
My life, one which could be infinitely better than it is right now, has stumbled. I have mounted the ladder of success only to get stuck a bit above the bottom rung, but I hope and think that I'm about to find my footing. And I need that footing, that grounding, in order to continue.
Lately, I've been intrigued by a combination of issues, from International Ethics to U.S./E.U. relations to the philosophical underpinnings of a liberal society and the problems inherent in liberalism. Part of me is compelled to ask 'Why should the Right have pre-emenence over the Good? Is not the Good far more important?' Part of me wants nothing to do with that question, since the realm of philosophy is one which causes me enormous amounts of grief. Yet I chose to study philosophy and politics because the two are intimately connected and I am called by them.
If I ask the question 'Isn't the Good prior to the Right in terms of importance? Shouldn't the Good be prior to the Right?' how do I narrow it down? How do I make that manageable? For a div3, what can I do, what real world issue, will allow me to explore that question by exploring that issue?
Basically, where I begin is with the question 'Do we, as human beings, have a responsibility to other human beings?' Where I go from there, however, is a mystery.
1 Comments:
Good post, good sir
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