Honorable and worthy vocations

The world used to be more orderly and peaceful. We all knew our roles and place in the world. Guided by our parents, pastors and teachers, we knew how high we should reach and set our goals so that one day we successfully reach our niche in life. We studied as children and then as adults fulfilled our occupations and professions to the best of our abilities, or at least satisfactorily and responsibly. We strove to reach our métier in life, so we would not end up as a disillusioned and unemployed “poets manqué.”

Today many parents are relinquishing their responsibilities, accounting for such nonsense as midnight basketball and no curfews resulting in such “pranks” as vandalism at Walmart, or more serious crimes like the deadly “Knockout game,” associated with gangs or plain idle delinquency.

The problem is many youngsters do not have sufficient moral guidance to prepare them for fulfilling their future. Instead, our politically correct schools under NEA guidance and our popular culture with all their media clichés, become, by default, the misguided councillors. Children are told to “reach for the stars,” but not all of them can reach those dizzying heights, especially with faulty indulgent parental discipline and deficient education. And not all of us need to be lawyers, doctors, professors, and rocket scientists to be useful to society and to reach self-fulfillment. While one of my daughters is studying to be a lawyer, my son is serving in the military on his way to the Middle East!

Many of the youngsters failing to achieve the misinterpreted and unrealistic expectations of “reaching for the stars” become discouraged and psychologically traumatized. Some, alienated, blame society and turn to a life of vagrancy or crime. Some politicians exploit the alienation of the young for political self-aggrandizement and manipulation of power.

We are ostensibly “created equal” in an idealized political system, but certainly not biologically. Socialist Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wants to send all young people to colleges and universities. What nonsense! We need young people to do what they can do best. Vocational work is not only honorable and honest work but worthy and gainful work that should be supported. Job training in community colleges should be promoted and youngsters with talent for skilled trades should be encouraged to pursuit them.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to find skilled workers. Has the reader required the service of a “blue collar” professional lately? If you have not called an electrician, plumber, or air conditioning repairman you might be surprised at the cost of their repairs — and you may just wonder why there isn’t more competition. Perhaps this little note of encouragement will help displaced youngsters find their way, as well as promote competition in skilled labor, which is always beneficial to society and the marketplace.

Written by Dr. Miguel Faria

Dr. Miguel A. Faria is an associate editor in chief and world affairs editor of Surgical Neurology International and the author of Cuba in Revolution: Escape from a Lost Paradise. His website is: HaciendaPublishing.com.

This article was printed in the Macon Telegraph on April 9, 2016.

This article may be cited as: Faria MA. Honorable and worthy vocations. Macon Telegraph, April 9, 2016. Available from: https://haciendapublishing.com/honorable-and-worthy-vocations/.

Copyright © 2016 Miguel A. Faria, Jr., MD