Ever since we’ve begun attending school, there’s been a question that everybody has been asked: “What do you wanna be when you grow up?” While this may appear like an innocent and benevolent question to help children work towards the future, it gets our youth to begin attempting to define themselves. This poses a question on how so and in reality, that very concern can feed harmful ideas to society that to be “valuable” we must have titles tied and attached to our names.
Humans as a whole are distinct and diverse in part because we possess the ability to feel, communicate, create, and change the world. The best part is that we do this in our own creative ways. Yet, we undermine this natural ability by constraining ourselves to certain roles and positions. Imagine this: A man named Paul who works at a nearby grocery store — but by referring to him solely as the local cashier, you disregard that he loves to play the guitar and perform for crowds in his free time. If it was true that Paul only was a cashier and after work went to sleep to recharge for work the next day, it would be easy to forget that he’s a unique human being. If thought of from another perspective, it would be easier to think of him as a robot, created and developed for only the purpose of being a cashier without any other.
Additionally, a solid concept that supports my message is that if each person in the world were destined to be one thing and one thing only, living would become much drier and boring. If from the moment you were born, you were strictly told that you had to become an engineer, you would have to throw aside any other interests; sports, music, and anything else that you’re passionate about would then become meaningless. If that isn’t the case, then the truth is that you’re not just an engineer, but a person who’s an engineer, an athlete, a musician, and whatever else. While it may seem that there’s no distinct title that encompasses all of those, there is: it’s called being human. Our ability to do many things is what embodies the human experience; also spanning much further than our objective impact on society — we have the ability to experience joy, to cry, to love, and make bonds and connections. To throw all of that away would strip away an integral part of life.
While the idea of not having a certain future might appear intimidating, I’d argue that that uncertainty, unplanned path is what brings life to living. From an average perspective, venturing out into the unknown and exploring everything that’s interesting is far more genuine and realistic than sticking to only one interest, forcing ourselves to stay away from anything else that we might feel passionate about out of fear that we wouldn’t be “defined” by doing so. Our multiple passions and how what we do and say is ultimately what defines us, and we shouldn’t allow a singular part of our life to be spokesperson for who we are as a whole.
I remember a conversation I had with a friend at Andover who had a huge interest in Volleyball. Naturally, I’d consider myself well-versed in the sport, so I tried to get them into it. We went to Borden and I remember that they had a great time. On the way out of the gym however, they said, “I wish I could play volleyball.” I was confused, asking them why they couldn’t and they said “I’m a musician, not an athlete.” Admittingly, I remember giving them a lengthy speech on how there’s thousands of things more to them than just that, and how adding one wouldn’t hurt and actually benefit them, especially as volleyball was something they really seemed to dig. Even in retrospect, I still think I made a little bit of sense in my tangent, and that my point was strong: That one label shouldn’t stop you from trying out others.
So, with all of this in mind, let’s come back to the question, “What do you wanna be when you grow up?” I believe that having a clear answer isn’t something positive. By defining and forcing yourself into a box, you lose one of the biggest strengths of being human: to explore and to have more than one purpose. Yet if forced to give an answer, saying “human” is always a good one — that way you leave the door open to living life to the maximum, no matter how broad you are.
