Pavement Ends 500 Feet

Friday I worked with a 20 something surgical tech. Hers is the position that assists a doc in surgery by managing all the instruments and helping with retractors and such. It's a really important job and doing it well makes all the difference in the world when it comes to getting the case done safely and efficiently.

At some point during the day I asked her if she liked her job. Her answer caught me by surprise as she answered in the negative. In fact, she was emphatic: "I hate it." Her reasons were reasonable enough but surprised me nonetheless because she is quite capable in her work. I guess that just goes to show ya: Just because you hate your job doesn't mean you can't do it well.

The poor girl soon had me and several of the other staff telling her how one cannot afford to waste their life doing something they hate. While she couldn't disagree she could offer no idea of what she would like to be doing instead. In fact she couldn't even describe what she liked to do in her spare time. "Lots of things" she answered but then could only come up with one.

I am beginning to think her dilemma is widespread here in the US. Furthermore, I think it's becoming easy to understand from where I live. It seems to me that we are seeing an entire generation enter adulthood that has never had to think about how they would spend their lives. Here, in the manufacturing region of the US, many of this generation grew up in the model of the their parent's and grandparent's households: Go to school, get a job with the promise of middle class benefits, fall in love, get married, have kids, retire and watch the sun go down. Problem is, the jobs with middle class promise have shrunk or departed. Marriage doesn't seem like such a good idea with divorce statistics what they are. And no one really thought to prepare this generation for anything different. So there they are: Caution, pavement ends after crossing the stage to receive your high school diploma.

It seems we've spent the last 50 years thinking about just how good we have it. We've developed ever greater recreations and distractions but not much to stimulate younger generations to think about what comes after 18. At the same time we have been automating jobs and exporting jobs leaving many of these young workers with few solid options outside of low paying service work. And, for many of those who come from backgrounds where college is not an expectation, the sidewalk ends and the trail disappears. I'm left to wonder: Have we slipped into the great American intellectual depression at the same time we've disemployed the middle class?