Saturday, January 18, 2014

Who are we to drink from the cup?

I can see exactly why I have no money.
We have a certain notion that our money is ours, that it belongs to us. Yet we beg for it and plead for it from anybody we can. Asking the nation to give us a sense of worth, and a place to show off our inherent wealth. To a common kind growing up in the world, we are told that we are special and worth being around. when we grow up we see on T.V. or in the movies that the people that are really special are the people that have money and can do things that others can't. 
When we come out of high school we are told that if you don;t go to university or even some kind of collage than you are a waste of time, basically useless. I was told coming out of high school that it was basically necessary to get my associates degree in order to make myself worth something. but as i got my associates in a field that I find completely useless, I was told that getting an associates was like getting a high school diploma, and in order to set myself apart i had to at least get my bachelors.
Now, I'm not angry that I in a sense had the carrot hung in front of me, and then pulled further away. That is something that happens in society today. You look at Debt or career paths or Holidays or even the idea of family and you will always have that carrot stung out further. No, What I'm irritated about is the idea that It wasn't until after  had my associates that I even started to see what I wanted to do with my life. I love make videos and acting, but from what I learn both looking at the world and trying to get into the world myself, is that these are not careers but hobbies. At least, for me, its that way for a very long time.
My advice to anybody looking going into film for a career is this; do not do it right away. Go to school from something simple, something that will allow you to live, allow you to get married and eat. I'm not saying that you should do this, but I feel like I could have gone to school for accounting and been able to make a much better living, while exploring the talents that God gave me. 
I do urge you to consider the implications of going straight for your "dreams" to early in your life, people who might be possibly reading this and who are under 25 and who might actually have aspirations in life.  You will be living in a world of doubt and confusion, while trying maintain order and independence for yourself. Its an odd combination of fun and torture and I really wouldn't recommend it to anybody. Though, some will thrive on the life of an artist. I certainly don't look down on those that feel this is the correct path for them, I seemly heed a warning of person experience. 
This culture has taught us that we have been born into royalty, and that we deserve everything good given to us. That we have the right to be famous, that we were made to be rich, but the fact is this is not so. We have to achieve these thing, we must work at it, we must strive for it. The idea of the american dream has changed in the last hundred years, quite extremely. 
When our grandfathers and great grandfathers came to this country they came with the sense that their lives would be better. Not because the government would give them an easy way out, but because they would be given the opportunity to make something of themselves.
So now it's our turn, to take life by the horns and look it straight in the eye. Ready to work our asses off and find out who we are in the process. Then and only then will we be able to show the world who we are and what we are made of.  It's only when you let the world mold you and shape you, that you finally have something to reveal. It's only when you shed the skin of your prepubescent thoughts, allowing you to see how the faults of the past are corrected, that you can start to move in the right direction to change them for good. 
Don't let your youth scare you from being apart of the world, but rather let it springboard you into the seasons of life, and help you become who you were meant to become. 
Purposeful.
T.W. Clawson