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When I Grow Up MAG
In kindergarten, my class was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Crayons danced across sheets of paper to illustrate our dream occupations. Our drawings were hung in the hallway for our parents to see at Back to School Night. I remember looking down the line and seeing pictures of ballerinas dancing, firefighters putting out a blaze, and astronauts leaping across the moon – careers that were seen as typical dreams of five-year-olds.
My picture showed a stick figure with brown hair holding a carton of orange juice over a large rectangle that was supposed to be a counter. Underneath was my barely legible handwriting: “When I grow up, I want to work at the Market Basket because it would be fun to swipe orange juice across the scanner.” To this day my parents won’t let me forget that out of everything I could have aspired to be, my five-year-old self wished to work at the local grocery store.
When we are young, questions of what we want to be when we grow up are common. Yet we are not expected to respond with an answer that is likely to come true. However, when we become teens, we are asked the very same question twice as often. The difference is, now we are supposed to answer with confidence.
Teens are expected to know exactly what we want to be and how we are going to achieve that goal. Not all of us can be so sure. Even though I am in high school, I cannot answer convincingly. But I don’t consider that a bad thing. How am I supposed to know what I will want to spend my time doing at age 40?
When I think about the future, I definitely don’t see myself working at the Market Basket, but in reality, if that was what would make me happy, I would do it. So, the next time someone asks me what I want to be when I grow up, I will simply say “happy.”
Happiness is a destination for everyone. We may want to walk different paths in life, but we all want to be happy wherever we end up. Choose your path, but don’t worry too much about choosing wisely. Make a mistake or two and try new things. But always remember, if you’re not happy, you’re not at the end of your journey yet.
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This article has 207 comments.
So true!
I loved the part about the grocery clerk!
I guess we all wanted to be something odd as a child. When I was in Kindergarden I drew my self with Bushy brown hair, large front teeth and a wand with a caption that said, I want to be Hermione Granger.
in kinder they asked what you wanted to be when you grow up.. half of us said a popstar or a super hero! i said i wanted to be a turnip!
in mid school they asked again half of us said i wanna be pres or a millionaire! i still wanted to be a turnip!
in high school right b4 we graduate they ask again.... people said they wanted to be a marine or a doctor.... i evolved. i wanted to be a carrot :3
get over it!!!!
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Favorite Quote:
"The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved- loved for ourselves or rather, loved in spite of ourselves." -Victor Hugo-