By TJ Martinell

It is always a source of amusement for me when I hear kids talk about what they are going to do when they “grow up,” or when parents mingle and discuss  their child’s future career with absolutely certainty, as though it is something which should be determined at the tender age of 7.

I remember the first thing I wanted to be in preschool was an astronaut, because I had, and still hold, somewhat of a fascination with outer space. I am absolutely terrible at math, however, which obliterated that dream like a comet.

So, I wanted to be a cowboy, like every true-blooded American boy at the age of 6. Then I wanted to become Robin Hood, because I liked the idea of taking my parents’ money, but then I discovered an institution called the IRS already did that.

I can’t help but find a great deal of irony in the “what are you going to be?” questions people pose from time to time, because it’s absurd – unless you’re a fortune teller or a prophet.

My mother, who is the music teacher at a private school in Bellevue, earned a degree in psychology, and then trained to be a physical therapist at a VA Hospital, and before that she had worked as the manager of restaurants in Spokane and Portland. Only afterward did she go back to school and begin teaching elementary in Seattle before finally finding her niche.

Switching careers or degrees is nothing out of the ordinary. Most of the students I attended college with switched their majors at least once, if not three times.

Why? Some of it is because too many young adults don’t know who they are and, consequentially, what they want to do with their lives. But a stronger reason is because there are too many factors which make up the fabric of life to determine what you’re going to do until you reach that point.

For some, it takes years to realize. Others are fortunate and seem to be born with certainty of their fate and pursue it without any indecision.

Two weeks into college I started writing to alleviate my restlessness which came from entering university where I did not know a single soul. Though I had been the news editor for my high school newspaper, it never really occurred to me that I would be a reporter when I grew up. I thought I would be get a job in media, shooting and editing video. It was only after several coincidental (or providential) meetings I chose to major in journalism. Even then, it was a happenstance which got me involved in the university student newspaper.

When I got out of college, it took a long time for me to get into the newspaper industry, and a week before I got hired there was no indication it would occur in the near future.

To this day, I accept the possibility that I may very well end up in a totally different profession when I am 30.

In fact, this applies to life on a whole. No one can know what they are going to be a year from now. Predicting someone’s career is just like trying to predict any sort of future event. Most often, the prediction looks ridiculous compared to what takes place in the year given. The 1939 New York World’s Fair was supposed to exhibit the “World of Tomorrow,” a peaceful, idyllic utopia of universal harmony. A couple of months later, the “World of Tomorrow” underwent the bloodiest and most destructive conflict in history.