Filed under: Uncategorized
My new role model should be the writer Goethe.
According to the author of the Know-It-All, Goethe was a "critic, journalist, lawyer, painter, theater manager, statesman, educationalist, alchemist, soldier, astrologer, novelist, spongwriter, philospher, botanist, biologist, color theorist, mine inspector, and issuer of military uniforms."
Never mind that I am not sure what in hell a color theorist or educationalist is exactly, but even if you take those two out, you have to add the additional roles one assumes he had, i.e. son, lover, brother, spouse, friend…not sure if he was a parent or uncle or mentor or patron too.
Have you ever read those "find the job you love/parachute/career guidance" type books? Or taken those vocational assessment tests? The one vocational assessment exam I can recall was taken in high school, and concluded that I should be a coroner (!!!) or a model teacher (as in a teacher of models, not an explemplary teacher). Aaaaalllrighty. Not helpful.
However, I do wonder what about my personality makes me suitable to be a coroner. And how did a paper and pencil test know that I have the skills to teach models, yet fail to have the physical characteristics to actually be a model?!
One of those books instructed me to fantasize elaborately about all the detials of my ideal vocational life. The idea being that a no holds barred fantasy could reveal my true self, true calling or some such thing.
I’ll spare you the details but I came up with a charming combination of Grizzly Adams meets Oprah meets Madonna & the Indigo Girls meets Paul Farmer. For those of you who do not know about this truly heroic and inspiring M.D.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Farmer
And let’s throw in some dashes of Noam Chomsky/Alice Walker/Fritjof Capra/Alice Waters/Jane Goodall and Mother Jones for good measure.
So let’s see the people I want to be when I grow up: Author/rabble rouser/activist/chef/scientist/media mogul/talk show host/singer/artist/food critic/healer/revolutionary/isolated cabin dweller who communes with animals…Somehow, I can’t figure out a career that encompasses all those things! But not a model nor a coroner in sight (nor a therapist!).
Maybe who I really need to learn from is Buddha (or my yoga teacher). Maybe I really ought to learn more about being quiet for once in my life, and sitting still, and being, just being.
We get a half day off from work today for New Year’s (yeah I am blogging in the office-but hey, I am long OFF the clock!!). Perhaps I should spend the extra time sipping my Cafe 817 mocha (black & bittersweet as life, just the way I like it) and shut down the frontal lobes of my head for awhile. I can aspire to be, like a cat. One day I will learn to while away entire days lying in a patch of sun and purring to myself.
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life:
Music, and cats." -Albert Schweitzer
No Comments so far
Leave a comment
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
