Are you too important to start at the bottom and work your way up?

There was an article in the New York Post about how 85% of recent college graduates are moving back home, because they can't find the kind of employment that they feel they deserve. I'm sorry, but if you get a college degree in something equivalent to revolutionary underwater basket weaving studies, you are going to have a very difficult time finding a job that doesn't require you to say, "Would you like fries with that?"

What we are witnessing here is the culmination of a entitlement society, nurtured by hippie parents, with no willingness to earn their place through sacrifice and hard work. That by the way, means taking jobs that you don't like, but you do anyway, because you need to put food on the table and a roof over your head. The $600 IPhone comes later...AFTER you've earned it.

The article mentions a student who, armed with a BS in human and organizational development, was looking for a high salary tech job in a big city. Well, I may be ignorant, but if you want a high paying job in the tech industry, shouldn't you get a degree in computer engineering, software engineering, or in addition to your BS degree, get yourself certified in network administration or something of the sort? Being the stupid lower middle class Republican scum that I am, I would think that having a BS in human organizational development would get you an entry level gopher position in some corporation's HR department. From there, you could work your way up. I guess that's not an option. Do I hear instant gratification?

Another "victim" was a young lady armed with a Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston. Berklee is a great school, but it's one of the most expensive music schools in the country. She's having a hard time finding a job, even though she completed business courses from Harvard and Columbia too. Let's see...Berklee, Harvard, Columbia...all expensive schools. My gut feeling is she doesn't come from the same side of the tracks as I do. She's looking for a job in the music publishing industry, and she's being told that there are no jobs. Well lady, maybe you'll just have to find a different line of work. That's what I've been told to do when my lifestyle choice has gone against the Leftists mantra.

I've been told that my choice of occupation is not my choice, but theirs, from Liberals who don't like the fact that I drive a big gas guzzler van in order to haul my drum equipment around. I had one Leftist tell me a few years ago, that he couldn't wait until the government ordered me to give up my van and forced me into a roller skate with a lawn mower engine. His exact words were, "Since when do you think that you have a right to destroy the environment by driving that truck. You'll need to find another line of work. You are an asshole Conservative, and you have no right, because of your political beliefs, to work in the music industry. Music is for Liberals and Liberals only. You Conservatives need to be destroyed." Nice guy. So lady, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you need to be forced into another line of work at gunpoint, like a good Liberal would do. I'm just going to say that since market forces are not going your way, you are going to have to face reality and work in another industry, regardless of what your education and training are in. People do it all the time, and many of them have found that the new career is rewarding. Of course if you sing or play a musical instrument, you can always seek out an opening in one of the military bands. That was my choice, and it worked for me. After 26 years, I retired and became what I wanted to be in the first place. I became a free lance musician. Yes, I have another source of income. It's a pension from the United States of America. It is a pension that I earned through hard work. I'm not living in Mom's basement rent free while I hit the reset button ad nauseum, because I don't want to go out and take a job where I might have to get my hands dirty. I had many a hands dirty job in my life too. I worked on a tobacco farm in Connecticut when I was a teenager. I washed dishes in a nursing home. When I was first in the military, being at the bottom of the pecking order, I did a lot of details like picking up trash, painting buildings, KP, polishing floors, cleaning toilets, filling sandbags and such, in addition to doing my regular job as a bandsman, practicing, 150 days per year travelling, etc.

You can't always get what you want. Ask any musician who has spent years practicing and honing his or her skills about audition failures and successes. Many aspire to win a position in a major orchestra like the Boston Symphony or the New York Philharmonic. Most never make it. It's the same in the commercial music industry too. Only the cream of the crop will end up making a decent living as a free lance musician, without some sort of financial backing. For those of us that were good enough to gain employment with a military band, our pensions earned after 20 or 30 years become that financial backing. For those that choose not to go the military route, having a day job becomes the financial backing for there passion. It's like that in any of the arts.

The basic premise of this article is to state this: First of all, you have to be willing to do things you don't want to do, because you need to survive. That's just the way life is. Not everyone will get to pursue their dream to the end, or if they do, there will be more than likely compromises and detours. Success must be earned one step at a time. Secondly, stop whining. You spent good money earning a degree in a subject where there is limited employment, or extreme competition for what little jobs there are. If you are not good enough to win a position, suck it up, and do something else. Third, no one owes you anything. That includes your parents, your friends, the government, and especially the tax payers. Don't expect us to fund your quest for self-gratification. If you are a musician and you are not quite good enough to get a major league gig, consider a military band, teaching position, or working in a completely different industry as your primary source of income, while you pursue your art for enjoyment, or as a part-time income supliment in order to have what ends up being a paid hobby. In another words, face reality and shut up.