Blog 9

While looking back at Barbra Graham’s and David Brooks’ articles one can see that they are connected by people’s struggle for happiness and the different ways it can be achieved. In Graham’s article, it was interesting that she never really planted roots. She was always moving from town to town and even other countries. Despite all her experiences she was never satisfied. She said, “it had taken thousands of miles and one child for me to understand that the quitting I took for freedom was as much of a trap as the social conventions we were trying to escape.” All of her traveling was her way of searching for happiness, but as Brooks says, “fulfilment is a byproduct of how people engage in their tasks.” This explains why she was never content with her life and always changing what she wanted to do. She thought that avoiding “social conventions” would bring her happiness. When her husband wanted to settle down she did not, so she simply divorced him, packed up, and moved on with her life. Reflecting on her travel throughout her life and having a child she finally was “engaging” in life and  was able to achieve her own happiness. These two articles are connected by the pursuit of happiness that everyone can relate to in their everyday life. Graham’s article shows how someone may be on a journey to find their happiness but ultimately will never know how it will be achieved. Graham believed that traveling and leaving everything that weighed her down behind was what she wanted most out of life. Happiness is described as an internal journey in both articles. Brooks describes how people tell this generation to “find their passion and then pursue their dreams,” implying that “they should find themselves first then go off and live their quest,” which is the opposite of what Graham did. She was unhappy for so long because she had not pursued happiness from within. At the same time though that is nearly unachievable like Brooks claims because “most successful young people don’t look inside and then plan a life,” but rather “they look outside and find a problem, which summons their life.” The journey to happiness is difficult and different from person to person. Some people will find it from within and others will find it through a worldly issue they encounter at some point in their life.

The Epidemic of Worry

After reading “The Epidemic of Worry” by David Brooks I have a better understanding of anxiety in our world. It is not the same from person to person and is even more different in each country. Anxiety itself can also vary and as described, comes in two main flavors. No two people have the same struggles and often fit into one of the categories based on their social status. The educated have worries specific to problems that occur in their lives. They may feel “plagued by a daily excess of choices” and struggle to find their inner peace. These overwhelmed people tend to “use money to buy privacy, and so cut themselves off” from the world and creating important relationships. This unusual election has stirred up anxiety in most anyone you could ask. Members of the educated class are specifically worried that their lifestyle may “rest on unstable molten layers of anger, bigotry and instability.” When people are comfortable living a specific way and a force threatens to change it, they become afraid -and not necessarily of the change-causing-factor, but of the unknown to come. The less educated often feel anxiety from the feeling that “the structures of society are built for the exploitation of people like themselves.” This creates a sense of helplessness if “everything is rigged.” People begin to doubt their own abilities and control of their lives, creating anxiety. Elections are already complicated but are made even more when including anxiety. Voters tend to not “worry if their candidate can’t pass a fact-check test,” rather they are looking for someone they can relate to, that “shares their exclusion.” Listening to friends and family debate about this election this past year and comparing it to Brooks’ article, I now realize I have heard both “flavors” of anxiety. There are people who fear what Trump would do in office and others who find him refreshing and a change that America needs. Some people have well thought out arguments, but there are always those who’s entire reason for supporting a candidate is fueled by the fear of the opposite being in office. That is what makes this election so unique to the ones before. People are voting based off anxiety of “who they fear the least,” instead of someone they would be proud to have represent our country as president. It has become so extreme that Brooks’ is concerned that “America’s culture may be permanently changed for the worse.” Hopefully after the election is over society can go back to normal until the next election.

Cruise

Two summers ago my family went on a seven-day cruise. We left out of Galveston, Texas. For the first day or two we were just on the boat. There were a lot of things to do; we played bingo and also watch people go on stage to play games. There was one game that I really remember where a few guys went up on the stage and they had this box strapped to their butt. The people had to shake it to get all the ping pong ball out. Who ever got the most out won the game. This one guy tried to shake it really fast and ended up ripping his pants. In the end he won because he shook all the ping pong balls out. I was surprised how good the food was on the ship. There was an omelette station in the mornings where you could make your own. When you wanted something sweet, there were ice cream machines all over the boat. I always ended up getting pizza because they were open day and night or I would order room service. My sister and I ended up getting in trouble for calling it in so much by my mom. When we finally got to Cozumel, Mexico we did a lot of shopping which was cool because I got to haggle with shop owners. Some would even flag us down to give us a better deal. The food we ate there was a lot different than the so called "Mexican food" here. I liked the real Mexican food while my mom missed her favorite Tex-Mex. My sister got a Cuban cigar from a little shop before the ban was lifted. When we arrived at Belize we had a personal tour. He took us to go cave tubing. I enjoyed that because we got to see bats on the ceiling of the cave. We also got to talk to a Jamaican man who climbed coconut trees for fresh fruit every day to sell to the tourists. My mom loves coconuts, so she got one from the man and loved it. After that anywhere that sold coconuts my mom bought one. Our last stop was Roatan, Honduras and because it is a very dangerous place, we did not get to experience the local culture like we had been on our trip. They had a nice place for tourists to hang out and a really pretty beach to tan or swim. Roatan was a nice chill place to end the cruise on. Over all we have a lot of memories and a lot of souvenirs from all the places. It was a great family trip to go on.

Dirty Jobs

I believe that not everyone has to go to college to make a living. There are plenty of jobs that can support a family without a college degree. Most everyone’s parents push them to go to college because it is assumed you will automatically be successful. I like Mike’s example about the Northern guy and how he did not go to college yet he was able to pay for his house with cash and still can raise his family with the money he earns. There are about 3 million jobs that cannot be filled by people because they are overly qualified and do not want to do the hands on work, those “dirty jobs.” Mike is not anti-college; he says he is anti-debt, meaning he does not want college kids to stay in debt. You have to have the right work ethic on how to get the job done the best way. His dad showed him at a young age about labor work and how hard you have to work to be successful. The first labor job Mike had was when clogged his toilet and had to help his dad find the problem in the yard pipes. He found out after trying to take electrician classes that was not the way he wanted to go. The electrician classes were hard and he didn’t pass them. I like that Mike is all about his passion and how you should always follow your passion no matter what anyone says. Not many people can do that and are stuck in a career for the money or because their parents wanted them to pursue it. Everyone thinks since they went to high School and got a college degree they can go out and find a job really easy.

            Even though college might not be your thing, like Mike said, college is also good because we need people to do highly specialized skills, like fly our planes, and we cannot have just anyone do that. Personally, I would not fly in a plane with a random person who claims to know how. I would much prefer someone with thorough training in that subject. College can be good for certain jobs and help you make more money in the long run than not having a degree. I am going to college so I do not have to do some of the jobs he did like shave sheep, clean out sewers, and clean out charcoal in fire pits. You do not have to go to school for very long to be a welder and they make great money and are very artistic.

In conclusion, I really have enjoyed watching his shows. It is refreshing compared to other television shows. I like how Dirty Jobs was not rehearsed. They were to the point - simply taped and edited for the appropriate episode length. It is good for the public to see behind the scenes to these jobs and that there are more ways to make money than getting a college degree.