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- Location
- New York City
I get the feeling that some kids growing up watching television believe that life
has a beginning, a middle and an ending with the solution at the end
of a half hour just like in the TV shows.
They feel jaded when they realize this is not the real world.
I'm talking about kids in lower income who have not prepared themselves for finding a
good or skilled job after finishing school.
Sadly not all school systems are the same.
They ask me how I became a news cameraman. I tell them it took time,
working part time at various jobs and finding out what was needed to
become a cameraman.
I see them all the time at the public tennis courts.
I have many old spare tennis rackets which they appreciate and enjoy.
I try to give them hope.
This is sad as we all know that, with very rare exception, success / building skills / growing in a career / having a personal relationship of value that lasts / etc. requires hard work over long periods with a willingness and ability to overcome setbacks and disappointments. There are no 30-minute-sitcoms answers in real life.
Sure, we also all know the one-off example of easy success that came to someone, but for the rest of us, success comes from a combination of luck, work, effort, opportunity, perseverance, etc. If kids are absorbing a different lesson from TV and giving up hope because of that - then that is very disappointing. My upbringing was not easy, but I had no / none / not one illusion that success would be easy or even the least bit guaranteed even if I did all the "right" things. TV was just a fake world of entertainment - I got that early and maybe am guilty of assuming, incorrectly, that most people do as well.