For any of you left who don't know, I majored in Political Science and Philosophy in college. I got my Bachelor of Arts in 2007. For the 4 years I spent in college and the 3 years since, I have received nothing but criticism about my choice of majors. Now granted, some of it was merited, as it's true: those are majors that do not directly lead to a job opportunity after college. However, a lot of it has been negative simply because these are subjects that people do not understand or took one class and disliked. The typical response when I tell people what my B.A. is in is: yuck! or why?!?? or I hate philosophy, you're crazy! Now I have come to simply accept that these are token responses from a general percentage of the populous. The other response I seem to get from people who deem themselves incredibly worthy of high praise (like math majors, mechanical engineers, and computer science students) is: "oh that's like getting an English degree, what's the point?! It's so easy!" This is the most infuriating response. And yet, over the years, I have simply come to accept it, and even make a joke out of my response when asked. I now typically respond with a token "I studied Poly Sci and Philosophy, two of the most useless majors...ha...ha...ha" all the while, dying a little bit inside. Because truly, no matter what anyone else tells me, I really enjoyed my undergraduate studies. I still enjoy philosophy and especially philosophical debate and I do not feel that I wasted my time. Yes, I may be on a different path now, but I believe it's all part of God's plan and just figuring out what I truly wanted to do with my life!
All of this to say: Yesterday I had a conversation that wowed me. I as at the elementary school helping out in a second grade classroom when the principal came in. He knows me well enough to say hi usually when he sees me. This time he actually chatted with me for a minute, asked me a couple questions about my studies, etc. For some reason he asked me what I studied in my undergrad, and I gave my now typical sheepish response: "Poltical Science and Philosophy" (and waited anxiously for him to strike me down verbally). He didn't! Instead his response was "Wow, that must have been an incredible classload and how interesting!" (His exact words were more succint and well-crafted than that, but I was so stunned I cannot remember them). I sputtered and I searched for words, as this was an entirely new experience for me! I finally found my vocabulary enough to actually agree with him and say how much I loved the experience.
And that was it! It was a 10 second interaction, and yet it meant the world to me. It was a shock and surprise, and from someone I barely know. In fact, who even knows if the guy was genuine or he was just being polite, but I don't care! For the first time in 7 years someone (outside my normal circle, as there are supportive people who love and care for me, because of me, in spite of my "bad choice" of majors)...but I'm talking about a real-live-human-adult-being-important-person-type who appreciated my efforts. Wow!
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2 comments:
I inclination not concur on it. I regard as warm-hearted post. Specially the designation attracted me to study the intact story.
With me, I usually get quizzed by older men about random history and then when I don't know the exact date or details they look upon me as though I am an idiot for spending all my money at the University when they clearly learned more than me by watching the relatively free history channel. Or I get "oh, you majored in history so you should know when.... or who..." I hate being quizzed and put on the spot. And my favorite, I get the question "what are going to do with that?" I like to respond with "I am going to take over the world, of course."
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