As hard as they may be on you at times, your parents and instructors (most of them, anyway) actually care about you, your well-being, and your future. They have 18 years available to mold you into a functional adult who will be a happy, healthy, contributing member of society who can be independent and do some good in this world. Along the way, they will make some mistakes (human beings do that), maybe some big mistakes. But in spite of that, they will remain motivated by a sincere desire to help you grow into a man or woman that you and they can all be proud of.
The Working World Does Not Care…
The world outside does not care. The world does not care if you become the man or woman you feel called to be. The world does not care if you can face yourself in the mirror, look your child in the eye (assuming you have kids someday), or kneel before God, Allah, or whatever deity you worship, with a clear conscience. The world does not care if you are injured and need a break from work to recover properly. The world does not care about providing a comfortable living standard for you and your family (assuming you get married and have a family of your own).
Your employer is concerned about one thing only – maximizing profits and minimizing costs. They want to squeeze as much productivity out of you, gain as much profit from your labor as possible, at minimal cost by paying you the lowest possible salary that they can get away with. Your employer will possibly have no qualms about ordering you to lie to or conceal material information from a customer. If you are injured and need time off to let the injury heal, even have a doctor’s note stating that, they may not necessarily grant you leave to rest and recover properly from your injury. They do not care whether you end up permanently crippled, because they can just hire someone else.
…About Your Health
I recall that when I injured my knee running cross-country in high school, my coach and my parents literally told me NOT to run in order to let the injury heal properly because they were looking out for my safety. Decades later as an engineer, I had a bad arm injury with a doctor’s note stating I would need four weeks to heal. The employer did NOT allow me time off to rest and heal properly, with the end result being a long and lingering painful injury. This kind of thing is common (though not universal) in the corporate world.
As an example that I read about online, a female warehouse worker at Amazon became pregnant, and very reasonably requested lighter physical labor during her pregnancy. Amazon refused. The worker had a miscarriage. Now, I’m not a medical doctor, but even I can guess the miscarriage might have been at least partly caused by forcing this woman to do hard labor while pregnant. This kind of thing is normal in the corporate world. We employees are expendable assets to be used, abused, and thrown under the bus for the company’s whims and profits.
…About Your Integrity
Teachers, Scoutmasters, pastors, and the like may tell you to be upright and honest. In my time in private industry there have been times where I was ordered to lie to or conceal material information from the customer. The latest time this happened I actually grew a spine and submitted my resignation letter rather than follow that order. Fortunately for my income, my boss offered some compromises, so at his invitation I rescinded my resignation. The employer does not necessarily care about allowing you to uphold your basic integrity. They care about making profits, minimizing costs, and covering their a**. I recall sharing with a friend, who has worked in the aerospace industry for decades, how disillusioned I felt about the corporate world. He said “yeah Henry, you’re right – there’s nothing honorable about the corporate world, it’s very dystopian.”
…About Your Standard of Living
The employer does not care if the salary they pay you is enough to afford even a one-bedroom apartment in the local area. They do not care that this may force you into hours of commuting every day. They do not care if the salary is enough to afford a new car because your current car is old and on its last legs. They do not care if the salary is 20% lower than the lowest paid person of similar job title at another company in the same industry. The employer will always be looking to pay you as low a salary as they can get away with.
Fight for What You Want
If you care about something, it’s on you to work hard and fight for it, because the world does not care. If you care about upholding your integrity, then when the employer orders you to lie or conceal material information, the right thing to do is resign rather than follow that order. If the employer won’t accommodate medical restrictions necessary to allow you to recover properly from an injury, then resign rather than let them cripple you. If you are pregnant, need to be assigned lighter physical duties to care properly for the unborn child, but the company forces you to continue to do heavy labor, then resign to protect your pregnancy and avoid a miscarriage.
Parents and professionals, what do you think of this? Most importantly, students, what do you think of this? Does this change your perspective on your future and the need to fight for your dreams?