Talking with my daughter
About her entering into the working world
As I’m spending more time thinking
About my exit strategy
From the working world;
Both of which are impossible
For either of us to comprehend
Work has dominated my thinking
Since I was in high school
The race to have money,
Insurance, and a pension
Making for a laborious toil
In search of security’s spoils
But my older years are asking more questions
About the meaning of work,
The why behind what I do,
On the balance between growth and gain where
Dastardly thoughts about whether
Any of the time spent working really means anything,
Since the purpose should be more rewarding
Than the salary and benefits
Fortune has been bestowed upon me twice
Not as a financial windfal, rather as two jobs where
Excellence and creativity merged
To make the daily hassles nothing more
Than hiccups in the day
Each job brought expectations of “smart”
Instead of bottom feeding drudgery
In the form of white collar time card punching banality.
Too bad those two meaningful experiences
Did not become careers
Because my quest for the big time
Dropped me in situations
With no mobility,
Ever changing political manipulation,
And reliance on efficiency
Over anything considered collaborative
Or creative
I miss making spokes
The labor so exacting and
Dexterity so important as
To bring to life
A wheel round and true
While the ride in historical literature
Kept the present informed of the past’s simple complexities
I miss the high ropes of summer
With kids so out of their city comfort and
Dealing with high thinking intellectuals who
Debated with vigor and collective vision
The best ways to inspire these kids of hope
To find their ways to better lives
Than offered by their unforgiving streets
Nothing could compare to those experiences
Not really even jobs
As they hold a place
For this working man
Beyond the human resources of management,
Parents, and
Even students
So my daughter
As you look for a career
Be ready for the aggrevations
But find a gem of a job
That doesn’t act like one
They’re worth the sacrifice
