Like many Americans, judging from what I read on the Web, I'm overeducated but underemployed. It seems like there is no advantage to knowledge or brains unless one has attained specific experience in precise technical fields. The obstacles to entering a new profession or even remaining in a profession appear steep.
A case in point is registered nursing, a growth field that interested me because of its humanitarian and scientific aspect. I fulfilled all the prerequisites with flying colors, scoring in the highest percentiles in classes and on the nurses' exam. A five-minute interview apparently nixed my application, although I am permitted to reapply in six months' time--how nice, but time is running out for me, as I'm not getting any younger.
The thought of having spent a year on training, only to be told "No" after a strangely abbreviated interview, is dispiriting to say the least. One wonders whether the five-minute chat could have been given prior to the year's worth of classes in order to save time and expense, both for me and the State that financed my tuition. But then, a "Yes" would not necessarily be good either, as it would have set the stage for an additional two years' training at 50+ hours per week and a $10K tuition cost out-of-pocket, quite a significant barrier. I am not sure whether I should mourn rejection or embrace it as a sign that nursing was just not meant to be my path in life. At the beginning of my journey, I thought that my capabilities might be put to use to help those in real need or lessen someone's pain. There was an incipient Crusader impulse to help others, to do good, but that impulse has been nipped in the bud, as my services are apparently not needed in the medical field.
Another dream has died an agonizing death, but good riddance to it. I am not sure what hidden factors might have been at play during that interview, but a part of me finds it curious that I scored at the highest level in all the classes that I took and yet was rejected. There is a temptation to analyze and speculate about the causes for rejection, but I'm reluctant to do so in the absence of any evidence. I've learned from experience that one can seldom know for certain the motivations of others. There may be a hidden hand at play or there may not, but even if I were smart enough to deduce the facts, the outcome would remain unchanged.
The past year, it seems, I've been spinning my wheels on an education treadmill, accomplishing nothing at the end of my journey beyond assisting the college in its siphoning of funds from the State treasury and my own bank account.
I did enjoy my classes, and I think there were students and even professors that were pleased to see me and grateful for my presence on occasion. Perhaps that is enough. Life is about the journey, not necessarily the destination. The ultimate destination is death, anyway, for all journeyers. At least if I die tomorrow, I will not have any regrets, but feel like I performed to the best of my capabilities and conducted myself in an ethical manner. That is more than some can say. Some people become crazy rich in a short amount of time without working hard. No doubt they vote Republican, if they vote at all.
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