Why Dont You Get a Real Job?
How many of us have had that question hammered into ourconsciousness? I would bet that most musicians, artists, actors,writers, missionaries, athletes, entrepreneurs, stay-at-homeparents, and inventors have all had to deal with this question.After we are successful and the big money and fame is rollingin, then everyone says how brave and tenacious we were. After wechange the world with our art, our incredibly successfulchildren, our spiritual teachings, our new ideas and businessconcepts, then people say we are “lucky” to be one of the chosenfew as if we didnt really work all that hard to get to thatsuccessful place. Until that day when we are fabulously wealthyand our industry grants us superstar status, we are deemeddreamers, unrealistic, illogical, and without real direction aswe diligently toil away at our work until its worthy ofacceptance as a “real job.” They see us as an overnight successor as complete failures. Until we are winners, our work isdeemed as a hobby, a luxury, or as simply frivolous.
Look into the history of our famous artists, Olympic athletes,inspirational novelists, and others of this nature. Unless theyare born into extreme wealth, they typically have a benefactorwho puts a roof over their head, feeds them, and subsidizestheir efforts until they can get to a place where their work isable to pay for itself. Many famous painters, sculptors,classical music composers, and such were never acknowledgedduring their own lifetimes for the work that they did. They wereindependently wealthy or someone paid their way. Sometimesbenefactors do it because they have a simple love of the arts, alove of athletic games, a love of good books, and such. Othertimes they do it from an investment perspective. Should theperson develop their craft to a point that it is profitable,then they are promised a percentage of the proceeds. In eithercase, a benefactor typically will support the artists,missionaries, and athletes that show the most promise.
The benefactor and the artists have one thing in common, theyboth see the world as a better place for the gifts and talentsthat are shared. A woman who works two jobs and raises the kidsso that her husband can focus all of his attention on hisentrepreneurial efforts is doing so because she truly believesin him, in his business, and that some day it will all pay offfinancially. Even if he fails, she believes in the dream andwill most likely cheer him on to try again. Parents will pay afortune to get the coaching and training their child needs, ifthey show the potential and passion of a future gold medallist.Why? Because they believe in the dream.
Do not forget the gifts of those who would give their gifts tothe world even if it means that they will live in poverty fordoing so. The couple that chooses to live off one income so thattheir children can have one stay-at-home parent is making thatdecision with their eyes wide open. The folks who travel intoAfrica to give aid to the starving and the dying do not seetheir lack of monetary gain as important enough to quit. Theentrepreneur lives on a shoestring budget so that he can createa business knowing that the world is a better place for thegoods and services that his company will provide. There is aspiritual lesson and a truly heartfelt joy that comes fromknowing that giving our gift is so much more important thandriving a large SUV while wearing the latest fashions. Yes, wewould have liked it if a wealthy benefactor had shown up in ourlives, but their absence will not stop us from moving forwardwith our dreams.
But what does it matter if we have artists, actors, athletes,and such in the
world? Isnt it all technically just a pleasantluxury of life? Do we really need sporting events, rockconcerts, art on our walls, Broadway plays, and books that arenot factual scientific textbooks? Yes! Yes, we do NEED them.These things keep us sane. Imagine for a moment what the worldwould be like without any music. Imagine the world without anymovies, plays, and fairy tales. Imagine the world withoutmystery novels, romance novels, self-help books,autobiographies, or childrens storybooks. Imagine the worldvoid of art, beauty, fashion, rose gardens, water fountains,birdbaths, and wind chimes. Imagine the world withoutentrepreneurs, where everyone works for large well-establishedorganizations and you can never break free of that rule. Imaginea world without priests, ministers, rabbis, monks, nuns, andother spiritual healers because they cannot PROVE that theirwork is actually a necessity Imagine a world without comedians,clowns, and toy makers. In a world where everyone went out andgot a real job, these things would be no more. Imagine a worldwhere the only work that was acceptable was work that waspractical, logical, and earned a stable income.
We would drift into such a darkness of the soul. We would sinkinto a horrible depression without these beautiful gifts of theheart. Throughout the history of mankind, we have entertainedourselves with the arts, athletics, spiritual and philosophicaldebates, and with forms of laughter. It is through thesecreative arts, intellectual arts, fine arts, and physical artsthat we maintain the sanity of the human race. Laughter is thebest medicine. Happiness and a joyful heart are the purest ofspiritual gifts that the universe has to offer.
We are not born to become super logical serious analyticalworker bees. We are here to manifest the spirit of love andinner-connectivity throughout the world. We are here to designand play at building cultures and belief systems. We are nothere to be some greedy corporations salesmen, paper pushers,and clones of those in the next cubicle over. We are here to bethe expression of the human spirit in its greatest form. We dothat through the arts. Not everyone is called to be an artist, amusician, an athlete, a minister, an actor, a stay-at-homeparent, or an entrepreneur. However, everyone does benefit fromthe fact that they are here leading us to the belief that thereis something inspirational out there. There is something more tolife than just work. There is also love, beauty, mental health,spiritual health, and laughter.
I cannot write music, make films, run a 4-minute mile, or iceskate like a ballerina, but I am healed, inspired, motivated,and touched by the passion of those who can. What a dark andcold place this would be without those passionate ones whorefuse to get a real job? The world really is a better placebecause these passionate artists, motivational athletes, andinspirational ministers chose to break free of the mainstreamnormal lives that others would have expected of them. Somewherein the hearts and souls of these people, they had to find theanswer to that question…. “Why dont I get a real job? Becausethe world needs my gift as much as I need to give it.”
Copyright 2005, Skye Thomas, Tomorrows Edge
About the author:
Skye Thomas is the CEO of Tomorrows Edge, an Internet leader ininspiring leaps of faith. To read more of her articles, freepreviews of her books, and her astrology forecasts, go towww.TomorrowsEdge.net. Webmasters interested in generating morerepeat traffic to their websites are invited to visitwww.TomorrowsEdge.net/horoscopes-generate-website-traffic.html.
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