What do you want to be when you grow up?

When I thinking on what I wanted to be when I grew up, I don't think I expected to be where I am now. I dreamed of being an astronaut, a firefighter, a teacher, a superhero. We all have those dreams. Some want to be an actor on stage and screen. Others want to be rock stars, performing on a stage in front of a crowd. When we were young and naive we dreamed big, and the sky was the limit.

But then we grow up, and the world comes crashing down like an avalanche of reality. Some of us do achieve our dreams, others have to settle. I never dreamed of working a mediocre job for corporate America. I didn't dream of being thousands of dollars in student loan debt to get a degree that no one bothered to tell me would be harder to find a career. No one told me that, oh you may want to get your Masters at a different college than you did for your undergrad since PhDs give more weight on that. Good to know in hindsight.

So what happened to the American dream of being able to achieve what you want through hard work? We were doers and builders; even the average factory worker took pride in his work. Now we all feel like we need to the best things in life; not because we earned it, but because we 'deserve it'. We've become a society of greedy producers and consumers. Employers don't worry about using their employee's skills to help them to become better, just produce. It is an endless cycle of dis-satisfaction.

So what is the answer? Do we blame Wall Street? Do we blame the banks? Do we blame the President (which one)? Do we blame ourselves?

 Maybe what we need is to start enjoying what we have and still have room to dream.  Maybe as a society we need to start looking at the best and the brightest for inspiration. I don't have all the answers, I'm just a guy with questions. But given everything that may not go right, I still leave room to dream.

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