Month: November 2019

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The Odd Jobs We Have in Life [ Post #29 ]

One thing that fascinates me is discovering what odd jobs or even temporary careers celebrities have had in their lives before they got their “big break” and became “somebody,” became famous. It’s really interesting trying to picture them doing whatever it is they did as they were struggling and trying to find their place in life.

That line of thought got me thinking about my own life and all the strange “odd jobs” I’ve had in my early life. At first I thought, “you know, I’ve only really had one job my whole life, my airline career,” then, upon deeper reflection, a lot of memories came back to me. I realized that I did, in fact, have a lot of odd jobs earlier in my life before I “found myself” and my life purpose (well, my working life purpose anyway). Yeah, I did do a lot of odd things early in life, and gee, I wonder if there were lessons to be learned in all those jobs I had. I spent a lot of time trying to figure life out and what I was going to do.

My first working experience was as a little kid being a model, which I covered in a previous blog. My parents got me into that work as my family was doing that kind of work and working in the movie industry back then. For some reason I really didn’t take to that work much, it was okay, I guess, and I am amazed looking at the photos from that period. I was cute and it was sort of fun. I think my lesson was, yes there is this world of modeling and acting if that’s what I want to do. It’s a busy and fascinating industry.

In my youth a neighborhood friend and I developed a lawn-mowing business. I also got a job delivering newspapers early in the morning twice a week the Eagle Rock Sentinel). Then during a couple of summers I worked on my sister’s and brother-in-law’s thoroughbred horse ranch. My overall impression was that work can be hard and not that much fun and somehow there’s got to be a better way to live and work.

Upon high school graduation my father got me a job immediately. I guess he feared I’d dilly-dally if I didn’t immediately get a job. Our neighbor across the street was a maintenance man for Van de Kamp’s bakery and restaurant in Glassel Park and knew of an opening in their drive-in restaurant, so I went and got my first job after graduation as a fry cook. I actually did okay and liked the work and had fun working with the people there. Never thought I’d be a cook before that, but it was fun.

When the drive-in closed I tried a couple of other restaurants but it was not the same. At Tiny Naylor’s restaurant ( through a connection my sister had with the owner) I lasted one day (I didn’t care for the job), then at McDonald’s in Glendale I lasted a week or so before quitting. Not fun at all. By now I’m thinking that I’d better find something interesting to do with my life or this type of misery will be my lot in life. I’m thinking, wow, a lot of people just put up with this to survive. Is this life? I’d better do some serious thinking about what I’m going to do with the rest of my life .

My list of odd jobs continued. I worked in a packing plant owned by a man in my church. Also at a mailing service run by church friends. In college I was a cashier and food checker in a nice restaurant on Lake Union in Seattle. One summer I was a door-to-door salesman selling vacuum cleaners (rather expensive Electrolux brand) and I actually sold a few! Even had a Mrs. Robinson like experience ( the movie “The Graduate”), but escaped just in time.

One of my favorite jobs was as a busboy at the Yosemite Lodge Cafeteria at Yosemite National Park in 1972. I also worked as a chaplain there in a ministry job that I signed up for while in seminary that year. It was a beautiful place to work for the summer.

In college I worked as a caretaker/night watchman at a mortuary and actually had an apartment in the mortuary. I assisted the undertakers when needed. And, yes, it was an eerie place to live. In seminary I worked at a cleaning service cleaning dental offices, cleaning floors, etc. I did not like that job at all.

So, all of these memories came back to me and it made me think about what were the lessons I learned from all these jobs I tried out in my youth. Some jobs were actually sort of fun, some not fun at all. I learned that I wanted to do something interesting with my life. These jobs gave me compassion for people who feel stuck in some of these jobs. Compassion for those who are living at poverty level and develop negative attitudes about life and work because of the unpleasant jobs they feel stuck in.

The main lesson I learned was go find an interesting line of work. Go for it. Do what you want to do. Make your life fun and interesting. Don’t be influenced by anybody who has negative vibes or advice. Never. Do your thing. If you are a spiritually inclined person you could say or realize that something bigger than you is directing your path daily and it will all work out. That’s the conclusion I eventually came to. It took a long time and a lot of experience, but life did work out spectacularly.

Wally

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Thinking vs. Following [ Post # 28 ]

It is said that things are really bad these days. It’s never been like this, the world and the political situation, etc. Well, having studied history as a history major in college, my opinion is that no matter what period of history you study, you can always find the worst thing happening somewhere in the world. There are always good things and bad things happening somewhere. I see the real problem in our world being that people choose to “follow” rather than “think.”

This came to mind recently when watching tv and a person was interviewed regarding the current political situation. She told the interviewer that she would back President Trump no matter what he ever did. No matter what, anything goes. I sat there thinking really, REALLY?! Wow. And believe me, I’m not really being political on this as I would be just as shocked if a political fan of a left wing politician were to say the same thing. It is hard for me to think people actually think and believe this way. I would say I have never followed any politician so radically. Or any other “authority” figure, such as a minister, teacher, leader, etc. I do not blindly follow anybody, and I don’t think any of us should if we are to be intelligent beings.

I am in favor of thinking rather than following. I know this is a society and culture of followers rather than serious, deep thinkers. We can see that everywhere. People follow celebrities, religious leaders, gurus, charismatic con artists and cult leaders. They follow cultural trends, religious teachings, childhood teachings, often without much thought of why they do. You may say, hey these are all good things. “Teach a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it” the Good Book says. Well, okay, there is some truth there, but that does not negate our individual responsibility to seek truth, to think deeply and look at the facts and the ramifications of all our actions and beliefs and pronouncements. We must always think! Don’t just follow. We have to decide what we believe, what we see is truth, and decide how we will live.

Now, I do allow an exception, in a sense, for someone in the military. In the military you are trained to take orders and carry out those orders. You are trained to kill when ordered. That is a different situation, a subject for another essay, perhaps. But I would still say we must think and take the responsibility for our beliefs and actions, always.

I have read a spiritual writer recently who said to not take automatically as truth what someone says, no matter who they are. A Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, whoever. I agree. Someone is not necessarily right or speaking truth just because they are “spiritual.” Again, no matter what, think!

I learned to think for myself. I grew up in the 1960’s. A wild, tumultuous, chaotic time in this country’s history. I had to, was forced to, think things through . We were faced with new dramas every day. Emotions were crazy, that’s the only way I can put it. I was called a communist because I did not vote for Nixon in 1972. I was told years later by a supervisor at work that he had better never hear that my views of the Vietnam War were any different than his (he served in the war) or I was dead meat. He had no idea what my position was, as we never talked about it, he was just warning me that he accepted no opinions different that his.

Regarding following family beliefs, I was the “black sheep” of my family. I did not share many of my family’s beliefs and feelings about things. I was called a ni**er lover because I did not share the prejudices of my family. I chose to think for myself and not just follow the family beliefs. Again, thinking vs. following.

In thinking about all this, I realize that there are some terms in our culture and society that I do not really like much because of the “code” word they seem to be,as I see it. For example, I’ve never been fond of the term “team player.” My feeling is that what is meant is you will submit, follow blindly, give in to whoever has the authority in the group, not be an independent thinker. Or the term “a good American.” That was used a lot by my family. It usually is a code word for someone who thinks like a person who has very specific political beliefs and opinions that are very defined and narrow. Similarly, the word patriot I feel is often misused to mean something very narrow and specific in meaning.

So, my point is, so much of our world’s problems stem from the fact that so many people choose to just follow (often blindly) beliefs, authority figures, prejudices, society and family teachings rather than using their intellect and seriously study what their positions on life issues are. Less following and more thinking is demanded if this world is going to get any better.

Wally