I Profess!

What profession do you admire most and why?

This is an interesting prompt from one perspective: I guess I’m supposed to pick some particular profession, like the old rhyme/song:

Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief,
Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief.

Sorry, that’s a remnant from my less socially aware childhood. It should be Native American chief, or Indigenous People’s chief. Or as my research suggests, “Merchant Chief.” Apparently it was a counting rhyme, and those are often suspect; see also line 2 of the classic version of “Eenie meanie miney mo.”

I stop and glance up the screen to see where I should continue from my digression, and my eyes focus on “beggar man.” There’s a young man wandering around town right now, a traveling bag and a guitar on his back. He’s busking to make enough money to continue his travels, but seems to be living for the moment at the mission around the corner. I’m hoping to run into him and get him to play pre-show music for our Improv Night, to help him out.

And that brings me back to the prompt. My answer is, as you might guess, not a single profession that I am going to single out. I think any profession which provides a person with a living wage and job satisfaction is a worthy one. (With the possible exception of middle managers who might be well paid and who receive satisfaction from torturing their underlings; these people should be removed from the job market and society.)

I once thought that you had to attend college to find the right profession, but my attitude to that has changed drastically along with the onset of age and wisdom. We all have our parts to play in the operation of the world. I think work is noble—though I hate wage slavery and the need to have a job, or multiple jobs, to merely survive—and think everyone should do what they want. If there was universal income, many people would still choose to do something, though it may not be as utilitarian as the current system requires.

I know many people do not like their jobs, so my wish is for things to change so that people can select a position and then do whatever makes them happy. That would be admirable.

Oh. Short of being a dictator or genocidal maniac. That should go without saying, but given the politicians we have today, I thought I had to make that clear.