There’s this running joke among the graduating senior class: Somebody walks up to you. They say, “so what are your plans after graduation?” Then you, as a graduating senior, are supposed to guffaw yourself into a puddle of uncertainty and feelings of inadequacy, because the real joke is your entire existence.
You’re coming to terms with the death of your dreams, which is funny, but the biggest joke is you. And that’s why graduating seniors think it’s hi-larious when you ask us what our plans are.
But what are we so afraid of? What’s this about uncertainty? What do we even want? Economic security? You got it. You have a bachelor’s degree. Nobody’s going to kiss our toes over it, but the degree does count for something. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. For example, if I walked into the IHOP I used to waitress at, they would immediately fast-track me to manager. I could probably score a managerial position fairly easily at any fast food restaurant as well. What? You don’t want to be a fast food manager? You deserve better? Well, the thing is, you don’t. Nobody does. There are more people graduating college than ever before, and as a consequence, there are fewer jobs. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
Because when I look at my time at Loyola, I don’t think about what a great hire I’ve turned into. I think about the great ideas I’ve been exposed to that I would have never come across otherwise. I’m actually glad that when I graduate, there will be more people in the world than ever before who are educated and willing to discuss these ideas with me. Maybe I won’t score a great job. Maybe my “few years off” before grad school will turn into an eternity. I’m fine with that. None of us are going hungry.
Even if all the cool jobs get taken by brighter applicants than you and me, we’ll be ok. We have skills: critical thinking and discipline built up from late nights studying. If we’re ever poor, we’re going to be really good at being poor. If we can’t find jobs in our field, we can find jobs elsewhere, because who cares? The world isn’t like it used to be. You don’t need a lifelong career to be happy.
Think of what lies ahead not as a vast wasteland of uncertainty, but rather as a vast wasteland of opportunity! This is our future, and we can do whatever we want with it. We can goof around working bartending jobs and taking a bunch of dance classes. We can lord the Circle K cash register by night and volunteer in the community by day. No matter what happens to us, we’ll always have what we’ve learned here. The future is freedom. Let’s be excited about it.
Chacha Murdick can be reached at [email protected]
