Tuesday, November 13, 2007

What I Want to Do with my Life, and some Reasoning.

I hear it at least once a week. The question has become something of a drumbeat in my head over the past half-year. "What are you going to do with your life?" "What are your plans?" "Where are you going?" "What are you doing?" These questions are asked by people for a valid reason: I am in Grade 12, and the time has indeed come when I need to think about these questions, and decide what I would like to do after school. But asking about my entire life is asking an impossible question. Up until now, I would have answered that I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I can't see where I am going to be in twenty years. I just don't know. What I have always had was interests. At a very young age, I took to writing. I have received several awards for my writing, and some adults have noticed it and talked to me about it. That is a talent. I also love acting. I believe I am talented there as well. I don't mind being in front of a large number of people, when many people would. That is a talent. That is a gift. I like music. I like to make music. That is also a talent, a gift. It is quite obvious that I am an arts type of person. But, from the opposite side, I also like computer programming, and computers in general. So what should I do with my life?

I have obviously been thinking a lot about this question over the past weeks and months. And I have made a decision, a subtle decision that I only became aware of this past week. I want to be an actor. I want to be a writer. I want to be a musician. I want to be a comedian. I want to be a poet. And I enjoy computers, and would like to be a computer programmer.

So what will I be? Where will I go?

My answer is that I will follow each and every one of these careers. I will do it all. I don't plan on having a long-term job, and if I do, it will be in computer programming. But it is my hope that these things, or a combination of them, will provide me with enough money that I can live. I will quite possibly never be rich. It is hard to be rich when you are in the arts. People don't like paying for ideas. I will, however, be enjoying my life every step of the way.

Isn't that more important than money?

The question I have been asked, and have often asked myself is, why are these jobs important? Why is a comedian important? Why is a writer important? Why is a musician important?

And I answer myself almost every time: what could possibly be more important than influencing, and bettering the lives of people?

I could better the lives of people in many ways. For instance, if I were to become a electrician, I would better peoples lives by solving electrical problems in their homes, in businesses, in cities. That job would be very useful. If I were to become an engineer, I could build a bridge that could help millions of people get from point A to point B. In an indirect way, I would be influencing those millions of people.

So why the arts? Why can't I influence people through a job that is sure to bring in cash?

My answer is that it is not enough for me to help people in these scientific ways. I want to help and influence people by nourishing their souls. I want to communicate to people in such a deep way that their lives are changed for the experience.

People say that being a comedian is a low job. I ask, why? Depression is, according to the UN, the single most common disease in the world. If I am making people laugh, helping people who may be troubled to, for a few moments at least, forget about their problems and love life again, why is that not the most important thing in the world?

The same goes for the rest. If I can help people to see a situation a different way through fiction, poetry, or music, if I can lift up their souls by helping them explore a part of themselves that is above this world, then that is the most important thing I could ever possibly do.

And so, after school I am almost certain I will go into university on an arts/theatre program. I will persue computer programming through smaller courses, or self-study. I may never be rich material-wise, but I will be doing what I believe I was put on this earth to do.

Monday, November 5, 2007

The Future

I wrote a poem a few days back that I thought I'd post. In an odd sort of way, I'm kind of proud of it. In writing and posting it, I'm in no way trying to cast blame on anyone. I'm just thinking out loud. I wrote thi s after watching a movie which I hated. As I was watching it, this came to mind.

The Future
We love entertainment,
Sexual humor, incest, rape.
We love watching people
Get shot right on tape.
We are the young. We are the future.

Movie ratings are falling,
We're desensitized.
If you don't like killing,
You're not fully realized.
We are the young. We are the future.

We don't like waiting,
We don't like containment.
We'll take pornography
Over long-time commitment.
We are the young. We are the future.

We are good people,
No, really, we are.
We're youthful. We're healthy.
We're begging for more.
We are the young. We are the future.

What will the future look like?

--David Klippenstein, 2007