Everyone's got their own definition of success on this planet, and everyone has the right to be happy with whatever they want to on this planet. Still, how many times have you heard people joking around about "Selling out (to The Man)?" Well it's corporate recruiting time at Dartmouth so I think now is as good a time as any to discuss the issue of Dartmouth students, and students of any Ivy League, selling out when they graduate? I once heard someone say that perhaps Ivy League students are more part of the problem than part of the solution. Well what does that mean exactly? What problem are we referring to here? Well to me what might have been implied is that Ivy League students who somehow win the opportunity to be here, might have something they owe to society for having been blessed with the abilities and talents they have, as well as with the very work ethic that got them here. Uh oh, now we get into morals and social issues and stuff and that can get messy. Who should say someone owes anything? My brother cares about himself and his future family when he works hard and has fun doing what he does behind his desk at his corporate job. My father thinks about me when he works those crazy hours at the consulting firm, so who am I to say he owes anything more than what he has so honorably given his entire life? After all, we all have the right to be happy as we deem fit as I said earlier.
So perhaps the real issue in "selling out" is a little different. I propose that the only responsibility we really have is to look inwards at ourselves and find out what it is, exactly, that we want to do with our lives. We all have some obligation to the world and to ourselves and maybe even to God if you believe in one (or many for that matter). Still, the obligation should be for the most part to ourselves. Why not strive for ultimate happiness, whatever that means -- stretch success to the maximum? For some that might mean make as much money as possible and spend it in super fun ways. To each his own. For others, it might be to give back and try to save the world. Great, we need people like that too. For others, it might have been a dream they lost a little while ago, when they got caught up in working so hard they just forgot to think about it until it was gone and they settled. That's right! People SETTLE. This, is what selling out must be!
The sad thing is that today, kids are probably losing their dreams a lot earlier than us college students and grads. Kids might be losing their dreams in middle school when they realize that being a teacher or carpenter or social servant isn't going to put them in a position of monetary comfort and everyday security. We all know that money makes the world spin (viciously out of control actually). If we want to have kids then it is going to be hard as all hell to treat them to a lot of things on the twenty-five grand salary we might make.
It isn't necessarily about giving back, or having a very honorable job; that's an entirely different issue than the definition of selling out, I propose. If I really dig Corporate America then I am not "selling out to the man." It's not that cut and dry. Sure people can pass judgements on people for whatever they want. I sure do. But that's not what this article is about. This article is about encouraging each other as students and siblings in this world to look inwards right now if we haven't done so already, and find out what we are doing so we don't end up settling. It is especially important so that we don't end up getting sucked into doing something that revolves around money, because that can sap the energy out of any of us (or invigorate some of us I suppose). I am not going to get into whether people who love money are more part of the problem than the solution. Our capitalist society that most of us take so dearly is founded on satisfying ambition and gaining power by
being a little or a lot selfish. And if that world is in some way part of a problem on this planet, then the right thing to do, the obligation we all have, is to not just sink into recruiting because we don't know what else to do. The single obligation we have is to look into our hearts to find what our mind loves more than anything, and follow it if we can.
Many of us have loans to pay back, which we absolutely cannot put off. In fact, a lot of us do. And that is where Corporate America comes in handy, real handy. In a way, thank God it's there. But we all have to realize that just as easy as it may be to slip into that world when we graduate, it is (according to what I've heard) just as easy to stay in that world that cuts the $85,000 pay check to those of us who are first year out of Dartmouth.
This is all just some water to wash around in your mouth, and some kindling for the fired up discussion some of you hopefully have with your friends. I have talked to way too many people who are currently unhappy working that I-Banking job or who are just not looking forward to it next year, and who think about the money to keep them going. Surprisingly, among my acquaintances, it isn't the people who need to pay back the loans that are unhappy, as much as it is the people who feel they are settling for no reward but the money -- the people who forgot that maybe they had some other purpose, some calling they once heard some years ago. To me, at a time when the world needs nothing more than some more heart and a sense of community, selling out is just plain sad sometimes. The tree-hugging liberal in me loves to discuss this topic, so if it's important to you like it's important to me, drop me an email; I hear that's a convenient way to get in touch with someone these days.
