The Road Less Traveled
Gah. Those of you who have been with me for years, either in real life or by the way of blogs/social networking have learned a couple of things about me:
1) I change my mind a lot.
2) I have gone through different “passions” in my schooling journey.
*shrug*
What can I say? I like a lot of things.
So rewind back to a couple of weeks ago when I was sitting in my advisors office:
Him: “So tell me, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
Me: “Man that is a loaded question. I want to own my own business, for starters.”
Him: “Oh! So you want to get your associates in business then.”
Me: “No.”
Him: “Excuse me?”
Me: “Business classes are boring.”
Him: “So you want to own your own business, but you don’t want to take business classes.”
Me: “Right.”
Him: “… okay. What classes do you want to take?”
Me: “I also want to be … a journalist.”
Him: “How does that play in to you owning your own business?”
Me: “It doesn’t really. I just want to do a lot of things in my life.”
Him: “Okay …”
You cannot see it in this conversation, but I had an “AHA” moment, right about the point where I said “I also want to be … ”
A journalist. A storyteller. A person who has the ability to emerge into major events, tragedies and movements … building the trust of the people, so I may depict what actually happened.
From their eyes.
Being a journalist is a double edge sword. Unfortunately, the media as a whole has a bad reputation of only putting out information that they want us, society, to know about — and that information is not always as truthful as it should be.
It makes me wonder if I would struggle in that sense. Obviously I would love to be one of the newscasters on MSNBC that reports from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, or from some amazing event that makes the world stop breathing for a split second, but if that means I have to lie my way to the top … I will pass.
Maybe what I should be focusing on is changing the game … starting a new generation of journalists. Ones who feel the way that I feel about storytelling.
Passionate. Driven. Excited to tell raw and honest happenings. Ones who stand up to the bullshit and care just enough about political correctness to say the right thing … while still telling the truth.
Is there anyone out there that feels that way? Or has societal greed and keeping up with the Joneses brainwashed us into doing whatever it is that we need to do to hit a certain monetary worth?
Fuck I hope not.
My mission is to find my like minded storytellers on this journey to journalism, the road less traveled by us it seems … and start a movement to put others’ first and our own financial gain last.
It is possible, you know — to have both.
I am sure of it.
What is your passion? Do you live and breathe it every day?
Who do you believe is the most influential story teller of all time? Why?
I am like you…there are so many things that I want to be when I grow up. I LOVE ikea. Like so much. I also LOVE Disney World. So if I could work at either one of those places, I would be just so happy. Do I live those passions? Hmmmm, not as much as I live the beauty school route that I will be taking.
I don’t know about influential, but I got my daughter a Shel Silverstein book tonight. It was epic watching her point out the poems that I too loved as a child. It just made me stop and be wistful for the baby she used to be, and curious about the teenager she is soon to be.
I don’t know if I have a passion.
Most influential writer? No clue….I don’t really look at writers that way. To me, writing shouldn’t influence…it should inform or entertain or both, but maybe that’s what you mean…..I don’t know.