Certifiably Certificationless

My general perception of the Peace Corps is that it was an experience of make-believe. To deal with the local pressures, lack of comfort, homesickness, wanderlust, confusion, anger, sadness, and generally just not knowing if you are over- or underwhelmed, you create a reality that you can deal with and live there for awhile. Some people are better at doing this than others. Actually, I almost think that people who do it too well should be taken directly off the plane and institutionalized. They've got some serious issues with reality. Still they tell you to stay and reinforce the idea of your 'commitment'. Good/successful/smart worthy people did it... you can too.

I left my New York life, which could have gone anywhere I wanted it to go, because I felt there was too much pretending. In New York, you can be as mental as you want to be as long as it's in some trendy, narcissistic, neurotic way... and you should preferably be really cute when you do it. You have brunch with people who can discuss world politics, art, literature; just don't mention any personal crisis or non-medicated emotion. It's bigger, better, faster, more... as Ani D says, the suits now own New York. Everyone claimed to be such an individual and open-minded - all the while wearing labels (Prada, Marxist) that gave them rank and file. Subscribe and belong. Judge and be judged. Good/successful/smart/worthy people do it... who are you to not?

Labels make me laugh. I wear Sears with Ann Taylor, Tiffany's with street jewelry. I'm a feminist who disagrees with a lot of what both feminists and women in general do, I'm a free-marketer who thinks that the biggest test to the theory is poverty... and that the theory doesn't always do so well. I'm the kind of joiner that inside people don't much care for. I'll embrace the parts of the status quo that work, but the rest... well, they need to go - or I do. I'll stretch an organization as much as it allows me to stretch it, but if administration and maintenance is what you are looking for, well, I am not your girl.

Anti-label, pro-individual, pro-mess, pro-growth, anti-stagnation. With these I look to join... I need a job. It took me some time to get out my resume and submit myself to the employment dating game. I need to follow the rules and to impress people I don't know and don't necessarily care about what they think of me. Good/successful/smart/worthy people do it... who am I to not?

I read job descriptions and am amazed by the requirements. People - ah, those MBAs! - have created measurement tools to try to assure people that they know what they are getting. The minimal requirements are several years in one particular and very tiny area (how far does this go? one ad looking for a barista required 'at least one year of microfoam experience'). Quantity... ah, those MBAs. I wonder though... if someone's only worked in one sector for all that time, how much creativity or flexibility can they have? How much ability to 'see the big picture' to make changes to actually create? Others require significant certifications. Acquire the signals that one is 'trained' and 'follows' a line of thought. Good/successful/smart/worthy people do it... monkeys do it too.

When I was a student, I never ran into problems with the material - regardless of the subject. My problem was generally that I'd get to the point where I knew what I wanted or was supposed to know... and then I just didn't feel the need to prove it to someone who proved it to someone who proved it to someone else. Disestablishmentarianism. I suppose it's something I've never quite gotten over - it's like a terminal professional illness.

Life is like high school in many ways - there's always another person playing teacher asking you to raise your hand, sit in the front, accept what it taught and get the proverbial 'A'. There's also the chance to sit in the back, raise your eyebrow and question authority and their 'truth'. I've done a bit of both and I can tell you I found a lot of successful people in the front. But the good, smart and worthy folks... well, I've met far more of them in the back. Plus, it's a lot more fun back there. Doesn't really solve the employment problem though, eh?