Articles like Why Are Harvard Graduates in the Mailroom? from nytimes.com make me very, very sad. It's not that I've never heard of the employment lotter; I've been in lottery jobs, I've turned down lottery jobs ... they're everywhere. It just makes me sad that it seem like this is the only way of getting ahead anymore. Beyond which, around here, even being a mail clerk isn't an entry level job, as companies ask for a couple of years of experience. You can't even get in the lottery without experience in many places.
Articles like this make me feel as if I have no control over my career, or ability to influence my successes and failures. Success appears more as an accident than anything. As if it doesn't matter how much effort I put into things, that the opportunities just aren't there. Reading that article makes me feel a little bit fatalistic. I mean, I don't even have a Harvard degree, I just have the pretty one from the school that I loved.
The thing is, even if that is the case I can't go through life acting as if I am powerless in my own career. It's like (philosophy nerd alert) determinism: even if everything is already pre-destined and we have no control over our actions, we still have to treat people as though they have responsibility over themselves and their actions. Personal responsibility is part of the very fabric of civilized society, we need it to function. Whatever truth there may be in that article (and it's important to recognize those truths) I still have to believe that the work I do and the efforts I make will have a real impact on my career successes. If I don't, where would be the motivation to try?
PS -
Also, on another note: Go Jimmy Carter!
PPS -
The internet is making me angry. This on MSN Canada about the Marriage Secrets You Should Never Share. Some of them make sense ... but click through and there's at least two slides telling you that you should never share money information. What the heck, peeps?
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