Choose wisely

They say that when you select your career path, you need to choose wisely for it is what you will spend most of your life doing. It will be what will determine your character, your personality, your entire being. It will be through what you will learn to deal with whatever life throws at you and how to cope with it all. But most of all it will be the prism through which you will view everything around you.

When I chose to be a journalist, I never had a doubt. It was a profession depicted as adventurous, exciting and fascinating. It was a chance to travel, even if it was simply around your neigbourhood, to meet people and learn their stories and then be creative in writing it all out for other people to read. And the satisfaction of having others view and praise your work is, of course, priceless and worth all the effort.

But what they don’t tell you about this profession is that it requires at times inhuman hours. Long waits doing absolutely nothing. Constant screening of everything that goes on the web – on every platform and social network. Of cross-checking facts before you say anything, just to be sure. Of reporting alleged claims and two seconds later confirming they have been refuted. Of covering 17-hour marathon negotiations that have been described as the “European Union’s most historic and significant Council” in order to avert the collapse of the entire system due to a single country’s breakdown. Yet, even with hardly a couple of hours sleep in the night that results in you spending the rest of the day stumbling over just by moving between living room and kitchen, it is somehow all worth it. When you see that the articles you wrote are being shared and liked, that you are being recognized as fluent and exceptional in what you do.

Right then you don’t think about the tiredness anymore or the lack of sleep. You simply dwell in the satisfaction that you did indeed choose wisely. And this is a path you never regret having taken.

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The material we wear

Have you ever noticed how people in uniform have a different “air” about them? It is as if all of a sudden that piece of clothing they wear adds elegance and status to them. Be it soldiers, firemen, policemen, astronauts, nurses, pilots, even scouts, waiters and pupils, uniforms make the bearer feel all important.

It is no wonder that one of the most popular romantic fantasies involves the use of uniform.

But why does this specific clothing makes us all feel bigger, better and brighter?

It is not actually the clothing itself – although uniforms usually are made of better quality material. It is the significance attributed to the uniform. It is the discipline that is associated with it. The fact that in order to properly wear the uniform it means you will be clean, shaven, hair combed, and almost doll-like perfect. It is the entire image it purports. And particularly the fact that to wear the uniform you must usually gain the right to, by proving your worth through exams or physical tests of some sort.

It is interesting to note how when we’re young at school we usually despise wearing uniforms, but when we grow up we often strive to become part of a uniform-wearing team or profession. It is the sense of belonging, the camaraderie, the prestige associated with the clothing that makes it all the more enticing.

We just need to remember, it is not the clothing that makes us important, it’s the other way around.

 

Also part of Daily Prompt: The Clothes (May) Make the (Wo)man