What is career anyway?
"Well, I would love to, but I'm sure my mom gonna think it's better for me to have a housing loan than to pay a kos for Rp2,5 mio a month. There's a housing loan for Rp2 mio a month, and it's good investment though."
"What? Wait wait wait, what's happen with your plan to have your master abroad? I thought you're going to get out from this country, and now you're thinking about this housing loan?"
"What's the problem? I guess I still could take the housing loan even if I go abroad. Well, I never think about it before actually, but I don't think that will be a problem. And every scholarship usually ask the student to go back to their country in the end."
"Yeah yeah, so true. I just think that I don't want to have any kind of loan."
"Neither do I, but in the end we can't just always rent an apartment, or living in a kos, no matter how comfortable it is. I don't know about you, but in my culture having a house seems to be one of the objective when we grow up."
"You know what, I read this article about the generation who don't want to have a loan."
"Is this generation who don't want to have loan, don't want to have children and don't want to get married?"
"Yeah yeah yeah, did you read that? Oh, was it you who share to me on Facebook?"
"Maybe, I shared in Facebook 2 weeks ago. Do you mean the peter pan generation? Oh I feel it. I mean it's not that I don't want to have loan, I definitely going to have housing loan someday, but get married and have children? Oh my, baby is just cute when it's somebody else's, not mine."
"Off course I'm thinking about having my own house, but I will do that when I already have a career. Now, I have no career yet, you know, what I'm doing now is more social…"
"What is career?"
"You know, career? Kalau kamu sudah kerja…"
"No no, I mean what is career anyway? What is your definition of career, how you define career? In what kind of circumstances you could proclaim that you already have a career, and gonna start to have your own housing loan?"
"Well, it's more like going up, you go to the stage…"
"Don't you think it's overrated?"
"Overrated?"
"Yeah, career is overrated. That word: career, make me overwhelm. What is career anyway? For me career could be anything as long as you are serious about it. I mean, you could make your work in GBF as a career if you start to serious about it, going through the stages… just like me in activism, I could make it as my career, or before, I could make journalism my career as well, if I'm serious about it."
"Yeah yeah, but career is more about going up to the stages, like you go for promotion, and give you more responsibilities..."
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"Overwhelmed?"
"Yeah, you know, I have to put a high standard for my brothers and sisters, or at least not to be a bad example for them."
"You're dong it well, I guess?"
"I don't know, I mean I'm not that bright student, but at least I enrolled to one of the best high school in my hometown, and managed to put my ass in one of the best university here. Well, a rating said it is the best in Indonesia."
"Did you read the article by yourself?"
"Nope, I couldn't make myself to be more concern about who is the best. My friend told me, and some people talk about it in Facebook. Well, who cares anyway."
"So, what's the problem?"
"I don't know if I put a good standard in career. I mean, I love my current job, I love being with Greenpeace, this is what I want. I also love my former job as a journalist. I have no problem with those. But sometime I thought my mom gonna be more proud if I work in a big reputable company."
"You know, my oldest sister is also an environmental activist. I don't know how is it for her, but I think she is happy. And I also work for some kind of social side, it's more CSR. While my brother is working for a bank. But I think I don't know whether I'm gonna be suitable to work in a bank or not."
"Once I was passing through all the tests for this bank, it called Rabo Bank, I guess it's one of the biggest in Netherland…"
"I know Rabo Bank, my brother work for that bank."
"But I don't take that job because I don't think I'll be happy working in bank. You know, working in a company. I never have the idea to work in a company. Since high school, if I thought about work, I can't help myself to thought about journalism. That's the only idea of working that I had. Activism just crossed my mind recently, when I was in university."
"No, I don't mean that you should work in a bank, or any other company. I like the idea of you work in any field, you could work as anything you want, as long as you do the best, as long as you do it the right way, and like to do it, as long as it make you happy, so you could optimise it."
Love it :)
ReplyDeleteI want to believe that parental and societal judgment and expectations are overrated. Sometimes, luckily, it is. I once talked to a mom, aged almost like my own. She said that of course she'll be proud if her children works in a big flashy company. Hell, she'll be proud if they are willing to have any kind of job and be responsible in it. But, she is happier knowing that her children works happily and productively (making good and fulfilling achievements). Then she told a story about a friend of her, whose children works in great big companies, yet seems doesn't enjoy life (haven't able to have kids-may be because of stress; not very healthy-have high cholesterol; unhappy and sometimes depressed of the work situations).
ReplyDeleteI'm saying, it'll very much depend on what kind of parent and or family we have. If they're oriented on material and social pride, well no wonder if they are prouder if we work in a bank or oil company. But if our family are the ones who appreciated more of humanity, art, peace within, or spiritual objectives; then don't worry much. I'm pretty sure we can do any kind of passionate career we want to :)
Sometimes i come to this point, where i ask myself: what am i doing with my life?
ReplyDeleteBut then i have no idea what should i do, then i just keep going. This is career(?).