We’re Living Our Parents’ Dream

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At every point in time, there are at least three generations on earth; the youthful generation, the juvenile generation and the old generation. I fall in the youthful bracket and I’m sure you do as well, or probably in one of those brackets.

Our parents’ era is noted to have have had low formal education. It could be for many reasons, such as poverty, ignorance or lack of interest. Whatever be the case, they didn’t give up on life. A few privileged had the chance to attend schools and take up occupations like teachers, bankers, and what have you. The higher percentage had to survive regardless, so they settled for petty trading, simply put, buying and selling.

Photo credit: Dreamstime

Fast-Forward, the few underprivileged parents, in this regard, would wish for their children to have similar 9-5 jobs of their privileged friends.  Probably because they saw white collar jobs to be more secure and reliable. There’s nothing like fluctuations in sales. Petty trading isn’t a rest assured occupational field. The sun doesn’t always shine on their part, but for a 9-5, one is rest assured that at the end of the month money would be comfortably sitting in the bank account.

In our parents’ quest to fulfill their wishes for us, they endeavour to make a better place for us by ensuring we gain formal education, even if it had to do with sacrificing their meals. And here we are, as tertiary graduates. Their goal was to make sure we find white collar jobs, and the requirement was formal education. So once they’ve provided the requirement and can do little about securing employment for us, they’ve technically fulfilled their tasks.

Photo credit: UGBS

They see us and become happy, because we’re living their dreams. They wanted to be us. But the question is, is that truly OUR dream? Do we want to just school, become graduates and find ourselves a 9-5 to occupy for the rest of our lives? I don’t know about you, but based on the conversations I’ve had with my peers and my personal mindset, that is NOT the dream. There’s more to life than just working to earn a living. Problems need to be solved, and the solution has to be monetized and presented to the world. That way we kill two birds with a stone. It is a fulfilment to brighten your small corner and make a living out of it.

Photo credit: Morocco World News

Most of our parents don’t agree to this strategy. To them it’s risky and really not assured. Moreover, our parents had no such intentions, hence they didn’t raise us with qualities to make us successful, including saving money, investments, business management, confidence, and so on. However, the privileged rich ones knew these and instilled such characteristics into their children. That makes the statement “the rich get richer” legit.

Unfortunately we’re at the other side, with no connections or diplomatic associations. We can’t land jobs easily. We have to gain financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills ourselves. That doubles the work and makes the task a tough one. But just as our parents put everything on the line for our betterment, let’s become leaders and make a better place for our successors.

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