What We Wanted To Be And What We Became

This post actually came to me last week but I have just gotten around to posting it.

Much of it came about as a result of a conversation with one of the unit leaders that I have been working with in the paint shop where I work. It seems that one of the higher ups is taking a position in a different part of the plant and the unit leader that I was talking to had applied for the position. This position normally requires that one have some type of educational degree. But seeing as there was another person within the paint shop that didn't have said degree and had done this job, filling in for the person it belonged to had also applied for it, that part of the requirement was dropped.

The position in question really isn't that difficult to perform. It requires mainly a mind for numbers. Specifically, how many cars that are built in each bank of the paint shop. Each unit kind of performs independently of each other and has a bank of cars that the next unit can feed on in case of downtime in the previous unit.

All this to explain what was going through my mind. You see, I turned out to be pretty much a normal type guy after high school. I chose not to pursue college and have been making a living with my hands since then and not to shabbily, I might add.

But this conversation did get me to thinking about what might have happened to me had I chosen to go to college. Part of the reason for not going to college was that fact that I never considered myself the sort to sit behind a desk and shuffle papers. This isn't to make light of folks who do, it's just the way I then thought of jobs that college grads got.

If I had gone to college, doors that have been and are closed to me would have been opened up. I'm not stupid or slow, it's just that I wanted to work with my hands at the time.

I also thought about when I was much younger and had thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up. At one point, it was either a football player or an automotive engineer. I thought I'd leave it open so I had some options lol. I never became either of those things. I found out when I was in high school that I didn't like football as much as I thought and the thought of more years of desk learning didn't appeal to me either.

I did however, a bit later in life, become a certified mechanic in the state that I live. I guess that's about as close to an engineer as I ever got.

Am I unhappy about the decision that I made so many years ago not to go to college. The answer to that is "NO". I have gotten to do many things and a few different jobs in that time and have gotten by fairly well. As for today and the job that I do, I am making a very good living with it. Could I be making more money if I had gone to college, "Yes" , but I am doing things I like to do and am happy with who I am at this point.

At some point I may post about what I am doing where I work now. As you know, if you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know I work in an auto assembly plant. But I don't have a regular assembly line job anymore. I (through seniority) got a much better job, and it's off line.

I bet that more than a few other people have these same thoughts from time to time as they go through life. What could I have been?

For now I'll just leave it. Just a few thoughts that I had during the last week. But as I said, someday I may post more detail about what I do at the plant. Till next time BYE!!