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SMOLDER: Place of jobs in our lives differ by person

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Column: Breaker of Chains

I recently got to see an incredibly good performance put on by a talented group of cast and crew that my father was the director of. 

Upon seeing the show, I was truly blown away by just how decent the performance was and even more blown away to talk to the cast and see just how humble they all were. 

Despite this incredible performance, I wanted to spend a little time this week to recognize something I noticed while having a conversation with my father. The thing about my father is that he is someone who is incredibly concerned with his ongoing job as a teacher, director and mentor at all times. He constantly talks and thinks about what is happening at his job. 

It is something that truly consumes his daily life. The biggest reason for this is that he is very concerned about providing the best experience for the students he teaches, according to him. 

I am not writing to specifically talk about how much I respect my father, although I must say I certainly do, but I wanted to talk about what he said in a little more depth. 

Jobs take on a variety of purposes throughout our lives. For many, it is a way to make money or pass the time. Others, it seems to provide a sense of purpose in the almost meaningless world that we live in. 

I know a lot of people who are very concerned with maximizing their revenue to which they receive. I feel the balance between your job and your life is a tricky thing to get right. The thing that caught my ear the most was hearing how much my father cares about his work almost regardless of money or compensation. 

I think it is interesting since there are definitely a lot of workers, let alone teachers, who work primarily for the monetary and necessity based reasons. 

There is certainly nothing wrong with that. At the end of the day, bills need to be paid and food has to be provided. Where should the balance be? Should work take up so much of our life that it becomes the center of everything we do or should it serve purely as the method of providing for ourselves? 

I certainly have no right answer, but I feel that work should be important enough so that we feel fulfilled and positive about it. I also believe that money is certainly important as it is the bare minimum necessity since without it shelter and food are hard to come by. 

These talking points and ideas are not brought up enough in our schools, society, households and more. Before picking any college or major, we should try to be encouraged to look reflectively and decide what place we want work to take in our lives. 

By skipping this crucial step, we seem to ignore what we as the people want. 

To me, the idea of not wanting an invasive career and then finding later on in my life to be completely consumed by what I do is something that sounds hard to deal with. 

The idea of establishing what we want at a more basic level seems like a better stepping stone than immediately jumping into a career due to pressure, time or money. 

I have respect for my father for just how seriously he takes his job. I also feel there is a value for having a surface level amount of caring since it seems to allow for a more stress-free lifestyle. 

The balance between these two things is something I would hope to achieve in an idealized world but I know ultimately I will probably choose one over the other. 

I suppose I will have to wait to see which one prevails. 

Zachary Smolder is a School of Engineering first-year majoring in mechanical engineering. His column, "Breaker of Chains," runs on alternate Wednesdays.


*Columns, cartoons and letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the Targum Publishing Company or its staff.

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