2008 Woodie Awards
Risky Business
The No-Brainer Guide to Happiness
Larry Tramutola
Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: Outside the Bubble
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Sound familiar? Perhaps this is the year to flip off corporate America, forget graduate school, ignore what your parents want you to do and do something that might make a difference in the world or help you really decide what you want to do with your life.
A few weeks ago I spoke to a Political Science class at Occidental College. It was a small class, 15-20 students. Some of them are interested in law school, others expressed an interest in teaching, others have no idea what the future might bring, but all of them are concerned about the next phase of their lives. Barely 20 years old, the students are nevertheless already struggling with career and life choices.
My advice to them? Take risks. Take them now. If you can't take risks when you are young and free from responsibilities, when do you think you will take them? Figure out what you care enough about that you would be willing to invest your life in doing. Knowing what you want to do with your life won't come from reading a book or listening to a career counselor or having your parents tell you what to do. It will come from trying different things and seeing what excites and inspires you. Sure, there will be failures and missteps, but that is life. No pain, no gain.
Giving this advice is a lot easier than taking it. Our families usually want us to take the safe route. Already, young people in their early twenties have been brain-washed to believe that money, careers and security are the three pillars of success, and I was no different.
When I graduated from Stanford, I had no clue what I wanted to do. I didn't have a clear career path, but I knew what I didn't want to do. I wasn't interested in a 9-5 job or climbing up the corporate ladder. Many of my friends had jobs, but they didn't care who they were working for or what they were doing as long as they got paid. That wasn't for me. I was a product of the 60s - concerned with civil rights, the Vietnam War, and social justice. The future, I thought, would take care of itself. So, either wisely or foolishly, I decided to "do my own thing." I decided to become a full time activist and volunteer with Cesar Chavez and the farm workers' movement.
Despite growing up in a very close and supportive family, my desire to become an activist and an organizer did not sit well with my parents, who had sacrificed significantly to send me to college. The Second World War had forced my father to change his plans of becoming a doctor, as he was almost 30 when he was finally discharged from the army. He felt "wasting my time" by volunteering, even for a meaningful cause, would affect other important life decisions.
"What about your future? You need to save for retirement."
"You went to one of the best universities in the country, you're wasting your education."
I had no good answers about my future, or even a clue how I would deal with retirement. But at 23, I believed I had many years to figure this out.
It was a hard decision, and for a number of years it created a barrier between my family and me. At family functions we discussed sports, not politics. When questions like money, retirement, or providing for family came up, we disagreed and moved on. During one family get-together, my mother asked me exasperatedly, "Well just what should I tell my friends? What do I tell them when they ask me what you are doing?"
I said "Tell them the truth. Tell them that I am working for the farm workers who are among the most exploited workers in the world. Tell them that unless people like us do something about it, they will continually be exploited."
"But it would be a lot simpler just to tell them that you are an attorney," she said.
"Precisely, but I'm not and I won't be. I can have a bigger impact doing what I'm doing."
When college friends who had taken jobs with investment companies or multi-national corporations heard that I was working for virtually no pay, they laughed and said, "You could make more money painting houses!" They were right, and there were times that the lack of money was difficult. Pursuing a non-conventional career path is not easy. Don't expect a lot of support from friends and family. If you get it, you are one of the lucky ones.
Today the world is not much different than the world I sat out to change 30 years ago. Then, as today, an unpopular war was being waged on foreign soil that was resulting in significant casualties and costing taxpayers billions of dollars. An unpopular president was willing to lie to the people to justify his actions. Corporate America, the only group benefiting from the war, was involved in scandals and profiteering. Concerns about the environment and global warming were surfacing in discussions. And for the most part my fellow students were complacent, much as students are today, worrying more about finals, getting into graduate schools or what they were going to do on the weekends.
Not much has changed since then. The war is in a different region. The president is different but still lying. The corporate leaders still profiting. Students are still worried more about finals, getting into graduate school and what to do on weekends than what is going on with the world around them and what they can do with their lives to make a difference.
The year is 2008 and our country is at a crossroads. You have an opportunity to make a difference. Take a risk this year. You could start by postponing graduate school and by ignoring the seduction of corporate America.
Volunteer for a cause you believe in. Do something that requires both disciplined hard work and working with people.
Don't be scared by the words volunteering or hard work, because changing the world takes both.
If you are not sure what you want to do, consider volunteering for the presidential campaign. This election will be talked about for generations to come. It is an historic moment to make a difference. We have an opportunity to inspire people, to encourage people to get involved and to help set a different course for this country. Every generation has the opportunity and responsibility to make our government responsive and responsible. That was one of the gifts the founders of our country gave us. Democracy demands participation and activism.
Getting started is easier than you might think. Make contact with the campaign. Tell them that you have x amount of time and would like to help. Ask if there is anything they want done that you can help with. Don't be picky. You might be making calls to voters one night and soon you may be asked to coordinate the phone bank. If you work hard you might be asked to work full time on the campaign soon thereafter. Really - it often does work that way.
Volunteering for a few months won't be catastrophic to your career, your future plans, or your checking account. You will learn how to approach people and to communicate simply and quickly. The more time you can commit, the better - every day, three evenings a week, every Saturday, twice a week during the day. The choice is yours, but whatever you commit to, be consistent and reliable. There will be countless opportunities to take additional responsibility. When the opportunity comes along, jump on it.
Get involved to make a difference, not to make a name for yourself. Don't get involved because of the glamour or excitement. Campaign work in this election will be hard work and it will take discipline and sacrifice to be successful.
Finally, take the time to figure out what you want out of life. My guess is that it is neither money nor most of the things that we are told we need to have to be happy. Part of the excitement is to challenge yourself and to do something that inspires and challenges you. You are young. You don't have to have a master plan. Your most precious possession is your time-use it to figure out what YOU want to do and if you happen to make the world a better place, you've doubly succeeded.