I was at the mall on the weekend - I hate the mall and you can read why here if you'd like - and gravitated towards a couple of the bookstores because I'm always looking for books. I didn't buy anything for myself but came across a 300 page book on military jet aircraft and straight away decided I needed to buy it for @mrbonkers, my legit little nephew; the decision was easy considering the book was only $20 reduced from $45 and to be honest I'd have paid $65 if they'd asked it; anything for my nephew.
He wants to be a fighter pilot which is something I encourage.
He's not yet six and will probably change his mind many times in the next ten or so years but I don't want to squash his aspirations, rather, I'm all about promoting and supporting them and if he wants to be a fighter pilot than that's what I want for him too. He doesn't yet know that Sixth-Generation fighters will (almost certainly) be unmanned but he doesn't need to just yet, it's good enough that he's passionate about it.
The book is hard covered so will stand up to the abuse it may get, I know he'll go through it over and over, and has a lot of information on the military jets featured all of which he may not be able to read just yet but he will eventually and I hope it's something he keeps for a long time to come.
When I was his age I decided I wanted to be a firefighter.
There was something I found so appealing about it but as a five year old I didn't know what. Later, I came to realise that it was the helper-aspect, protecting people and property when they may not be able to protect themselves aspect, that I liked and which drew me to the profession. I started on the journey in my very late teens after desperately wanting to do the job since the age of five but they wanted me to wait until my early to mid twenties which annoyed me; angered me really.
Anyway, I found a way to help others elsewhere and in other ways thinking I'd do my time there and then get back to my dream of being a firefighter but it never happened; I was needed where I was, stayed around, and when that ended years later life took me in yet another unexpected and unplanned direction. Such is life.
How is this relevant? Well, when I was about the same age as @mrbonkers I was given a hard cover book about fire appliances (fire trucks) similar to the one about military jets above and I must have looked at that book, the pictures and read it, hundreds and hundreds of times since that day. Forty nine years later...yep, I still have it and to be honest I still think about wanting to be a firefighter; it's too late for that though, that horse has bolted.
I don't believe in the phrase, you can be anything you want to be, it's just not true...but a person can certainly bend their efforts towards the things they want and in the process clarity will come and that helps a person focus on chasing down their goals even though those goals will shift from time to time. This will happen with my nephew of course, but in the meantime I intend to feed his passions, to support the ideas he has and not limit or inhibit those in any way.
Do you recall wanting to do a job so badly when you were a little kid? What was it and do you recall why it attracted you? Did you manage to make it happen and if so was that difficult, or if not why? If you'd like to share you can do so below, but there's no pressure to comment, the choice lies with you.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
[Original and AI free]
Image(s) in this post are my own
It wasn't a shelf filler at Kwiksave, but my destiny still led me there 😒
Lol...yep, I started at a supermarket called Foodland as a 13 year old...a firefighter it was not. Still, it taught me a thing or two about working for money and what to do with it when I got some.
I don't think you're a shelf filler at Kwiksave these days right? Not that there's anything wrong with it if you are. 🤔😆
It would physically kill me now, that backbreaking work is for the young. I left in 1985 and a year later entered IT. The missus works in a supermarket now. Despite it being almost 40 years later, the conditions still suck and staff are treated like shit.
Some things.., don't change.
I think it's the same here chops, supermarkets I mean. Not nice work although we have all those shoppers who go around shopping for online purchasers and home delivery...probably not too bad a role. (But staff are treated as you say.)
I think I was the exception to the rule and never really knew what I wanted to do. I just wanted to play with friends and get out and stir up some shit! Funny how one of my kids is in that same boat while the other one seems to know exactly what she wants to do.
I have been thinking about the "you can be whatever you want to be" lately. While I am a bit concerned about how is has shifted more to "you are whatever you pretend to be," that could just be my vintage. ;)
One thing I know for sure, if you want to be something, it sure as hell isn't going to happen (anything difficult or substantial that is) unless you believe you can, and do what it takes to become that. Mostly the hard stuff that will scare most people off.
So, I tell them they can be whatever they want to be if they are willing to do what most people are not willing to do. You have to suspend a little disbelief and failing while daring boldly and challenging yourself is better than Gen X cynicism if anything special is going to be made happen.
It seems to be the norm for people to have the expecttion that things will happen the way they want them to without any effort at all, I speak generally of course. It's not the case of course. Effort is required and many other elements and for those willing to put it in then things can happen.
We live in a world where people can choose to identify as the opposite gender, or even no gender...so why not delude oneself that one is an astronaut or a brain surgeon, fighter pilot or whatever. It's easy, just identify as that. 🤐
When I was little and I was your nephew's age I started my drawing and painting classes, then I continued for 11 years and the only thing I wanted was to be a drawing and painting teacher, but everybody said I would starve to death with that... my family above all.
Then life took me in different ways until I was giving computer classes and some students encouraged me to give painting classes for adults, and I did it for three years. It was very rewarding!
Whatever your nephew chooses, he will do well because he has parents who are looking out for him and an excellent uncle.
You look like a fireman!!!!
I think I would have been a good firefighter although it wasn't to be and what I ended up doing I was also good at it...something to do with working hard, you know?
Anyway, my dad made his living as an artist his whole life so it's possible huh?
Since I first read you say that about your father I loved it, few say that. Thank you!🤗
Has MrB shown any interest in Motocross (motorized) or racing go carts.?
You are correct about the 6th gens.
And a.i. will be flying the human hunter killer drones when it becomes sentient. Humans are so eager to destroy themselves it is disturbing....
He's been in a go kart, one of those kids ones, and loved it but no interest in motocross yet, my brother is trying to manage that for the moment as there's so much the lad is already doing. I don't think it'll be far off though. He loves motor racing and pretty much anything with a motor on it but they take his sailing and kite boarding and so many other things.
On your last line...disturbing indeed. And when it happens people will be like, I never saw that coming. Dumbasses.
I wanted to be an astronaut. I was fascinated by anything relating to science or more specifically space. I always thought that would be a cool job along with an astronomer as I pointed out in my post today. I didn't make it happen, but I am working in technology which is science, so I feel like I did pretty good!
Yep, you and a lot of others I'd say. Can you imagine what's it's like for those who actually do manage it? It must be an I credible feeling. I'd like to see the planet from space with my own eyes however it's extremely unlikely I will.
I've heard there is a word for the state you enter when you see the Earth from space for the first time. I forget what it is though. Ah, good old Google, I found it!
https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/houston-we-have-a-podcast/the-overview-effect/#:~:text=Space%20philosopher%20and%20author%20Frank%20White%20coined%20the%20term%20the,by%20astronauts%20describing%20the%20experience.
I think I wanted to be a doctor when I was younger, because they save people. But that all stopped once I realized I don't like blood. I'm fine getting my blood taken, seeing blood in movies and whatnot, but cutting another human and seeing the blood ooze out is a bit much.
Oh yeah, it's not the nicest job.
I field dress animals after I shoot them sometimes and I'm good at it, but I don't enjoy it so can understand people not liking the thought of cutting up people.
The same thing happened to me ...
I wanted to be a fighter pilot, just like my dad. As a child, I would draw and ask my dad a lot of questions, but in my country, the fighter jets stopped operating in the army and the pilots became helicopter pilots, and that was not as attractive as the fighter jets, so the dream ended very quickly.
Still, life led me to help people in a different way, a different manner.
However, I still hope that one day I can at least pilot a crop duster plane
It's a common thing for kids to want to be but I can imagine it to be even more compelling if one's parent is a fighter pilot. You're doing what you want to now so that's a good thing and maybe one day you'll get to fly.
When I was a similar age to your nephew, I spent time at my mother's workplace. in one hotel, where she worked as a maid.
That hotel was a quarantine for the players of the big football club of the city where I live.
I met then famous goalkeeper, who played with me (I was his company) on the days when they had a certain rest before the games.
He let me play with his goalkeeper gloves, he smuggled a soccer ball, which we used to throw around the hotel corridors... And so, I wanted to be a soccer player...
My mother enrolled me in that big football club, but...
unlike you who want to support your nephew's wishes and ambitions, I did not have the support of my father. He was uninterested, and I, as a young beginner, could not achieve success on my own.
I ended my football career before it even started 🙂
When I think about it, maybe it was better that way... Or maybe not... It all depends on what kind of player I would become...
This way, I went to school and got a job in the technical profession, which was my choice, right after that football dream 🙂
Sometimes things don't work out to plan and we're led in different directions. It's not ideal I guess, although often those new paths lead to really great things and we embrace them and turn them into something valuable.
Hi Galen, I like the way you encourage your nephew's wishes. And about his future work it is likely as you say he will change his mind several times. I also don't think in that phrase "you can be anything you want to be", it just seems to me a childish phrase. But I do think it can help to focus on one's goals, as long as they are realistic.
About my childhood, I remember when I was 6 years old I was given a book about the Egypt of the Pharaohs and the pyramids, and I remember how I wanted to be an archaeologist. Maybe my love for anthropology, which is not the same thing, comes from there.
Now I deal with people, although they are not mummified, and I like what I do.
Best regards
A child's formative years are so important and it's incredible that their experiences and influences from a young age can stay with them for life. Unfortunately some of those experiences can be bad ones, abusive parents for instance.
I used to love dinosaurs (until I found out about fire engines) so I get the attraction to archaeology; I was interested also, and sill am although my path went in different directions.
Taking advantage of a little break in the morning, I will tell you that as I am becoming a dinosaur 😁 I am becoming more and more interested in everything related to these giant lizards or birds.
I would like a time machine to go back to those dinosaur days.
Until there is no time machine we have our imagination, or I can also upload pictures of me to Hive (although I think this is not going to happen).
Imaginations are pretty nifty things huh?
They are, it's a very cheap and affordable way to travel, and I'm glad I read this message now. I get out of Hive, reality claims me for a few hours.
Best regards
I never knew what I wanted to be with the vague notion that I told before that I once wondered if I would like being a marine biologist. I have the analytical brain that fits with science well, but it was not a passion that I pursued.
I understand about the price not being an issue for gifts for certain people. I'm that way about my Mom. Price doesn't count when it comes to her. At this time in life, if she wants it, I want her to have it and if she doesn't know she wants it, I STILL want here to have it. LOL
My father was a firefighter and later worked for a state department where he traveled to different parts of our state, teaching different fire fighting related classes to volunteer firemen. He was totally serious about it.
I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. 😄
One of my niece's husband is a Marine. His family says that he began to say he wanted to be a Marine when he was very young, around 6 or 7. He has followed that dream and he has done super good in a short time. Seems some folks just know somehow.
So your dad had my job! Lol.
I think it's good when people manage to follow their goals from youth as an adult like your Marine relative. It shows persistence and as for not knowing what you wanted to do...that seems to be the common these these days, just not with kids, I mean well into late teens and early twenties.
My favorite place in any mall is the bookstore.
I honestly can't remember if there was any specific thing I wanted to do real badly as a kid. Maybe play basketball? I am not sure. I did it a great deal as a little kid. It never happened though as I just wasn't coordinated enough. I sucked at it.
Well, you did what you wanted to do later in life and at a high level so that's something right? Also, basketball wasn't my thing either; I played but pretty badly.
Yep, played a lit of military stuff as a kid, so I guess that kind of worked out. Just never thought it would end up being my job as I got to be an older teenage fuckup.
I remember wanting to be an astronaut when I was younger, fascinated by the idea of exploring space. Though that dream didn't materialize, the wonder and curiosity it sparked stayed with me.
Wonder and curiosity is a good thing to have so it's good that stayed with you.
Yeah, I wanted to be a vet. 😁 I like to be a doctor but not able to save human is hard to carry in my heart so, I think be a doctor for the animals because less pain if it dies. Since we cannot control death. I did not manage to achieve it because of financial situations.
Being a vet would be a rewarding profession, a shame you were inhibited.
Yeah.. I just focus on the positive side of it rather than waste my time in complaining why.😊
Your nephew has the same child age aspirations as you in the child age, we change our minds as we grow and that's normal, because the thing's we will like and want for ourselves would be different, the book will guide him when he grows up into a teenager.
I think you're most probably, definitely, maybe right.
During my school days, I saw the 1987 movie Wall Street and I wanted to become a trader. I became one in 2006.
Well done.
I also disagree that you can be what you want to be, it always depend on the situation, before I went to college, my dream was to be an accountant but the public school in our province don't have this course😂.