The Broken Journey

Chapter Two: The Unknown Future

Liam and I go way back. We have virtually been friends all our lives. Our parents are friends, so we would always see each other growing up. As high school seniors, we are excited to go to college and begin a new era. The unfortunate element of this is that I don't believe for Liam to have the academic record to get into the school I want to attend. We always dreamed of going to the same university, but it now seems unlikely to come about. I think Liam knows this, which may be why he has talked very minimally about college.

My family has told me that I mustn't pick my college based on where my friends go. My father has always spoken to me about the importance of education. You see, my family background is one of minimal higher education. My family tree does not consist of many scholars or formally educated men and women. Both of my parents come from a family that did not hold education in high regard. My parents view hard work in labor and life in general as more valuable than any higher education can afford onto an individual's life.

However, the economic recession and modern realities in our country's economy have brought my family and many others troubled times. It became hard to go on vacation, pay for leisure activities, afford new clothes, and go out to restaurants. All that we once felt to be of normalcy; now, no longer so. The economic downturn has shifted the life view of many in my region of the country. We have seen once lively manufacturing plants in various industries leave our towns. Taking secure and stable jobs, liveable wages, nice healthcare benefits, and a sense of pride within the community. Those in my community don't want to live on government benefits. They do not seek a life of poverty and government assistance. Our fathers and mothers take pride in working to care for us while affording us a bright and hopeful future.

Due to all that has occurred, my father has begun to value higher education as a vehicle to obtain a better standard of living. Many in our town can no longer acquire a standard of living from the jobs now available to them without a college degree. Many of those jobs in my town are now low-wage and service-oriented, making it hard to raise a family and give their children the opportunities that many across the country receive.

With all that, I have valued education very highly, and I have studied hard in school to go to an excellent university and get further educated. My dream is to become a doctor. I have no idea how I will pay for this dream, but I know I will need a solid academic performance to hopefully receive scholarships to continue my pursuit of becoming a doctor.

Liam, however, and in a respectful view, does not have a goal for his future. He says he wants to go to college, but he does not know what to study. We have talked many times about this, thinking of possible future careers, but he can't think of one. I have never understood why someone so unsure about their future would go straight to college after high school like it is somehow an automatic and necessary series of events. Some people who genuinely have no idea what they want to do should not be in a rush to pay thousands of dollars to take general university classes and possibly end up with a degree they do not wish to have pursued. There are many things a rich man can bargain for that will discriminately put him ahead in life, but time is something that no man can bargain more for than what he is already given. Time, thus, should not be wasted or taken for granted.

You see, Liam and I have a lot in common. We both are on the football team and love sports, video games, and acting like idiots in public. We understand each other so well. However, we are different in many ways. He is much more social than I am. He has had numerous girlfriends and hangs out with the "popular kids." Meanwhile, I have never had a girlfriend. I had opportunities to date girls, but I have always been reserved about dating.

Furthermore, I do not hang out with the "popular kids" since I always view them as judgmental and toxic. They seem to feel that they are somehow superior to others because they play a sport. Many of those kids think they have the moral right or duty to make fun of the ones they see as "below them." I play on the football team with many of them, but I do not care to hang out with them out of school - unless Liam goes.