Contributions to the Community

I had a great conversation with Ben last night about what a career really is, and how to go about getting a good one.

It started with my interpretation of what a job really is.  As I see it, in the purest sense, each individual is a part of a nest of communities, ranging from humanity as a whole (I will stick with terrestrial stuff) to a nation, a state, a city, a neighborhood, a family.  These communities are already established, and and were created and improved by people like ourselves in such an increasingly productive way over the course of human history, and now if we'd like to join up, we are welcome to do so, but we must of course contribute.  In exchange for giving time and energy to a specific focus, we get a little bit of the stuff that other people are committing.  The details of that transaction are contained within income and economies and such.

So the question I find myself asking is, what do I have to contribute?  What sorts of things can I do well?  Where can I best fit into the community?  And here's what I've come up with.  The sorts of things I really like doing and am best at, don't really point to a natural position in the network.  In my imagination, when I approach the board of directors for Humanity, and hold out my hands offering what I have to offer, they give me a look that says "Interesting, but we do not have a position that uses this set of qualifications.  We cannot fit you into the Whole." 

So what I realized from the end of this conversation, is that I am going to have to make my own position.  The reason I don't know what I want to do yet, might very well be that the job simply doesn't exist!  So, though it is considerably tougher to bushwhack my way through life creating my own road, and ultimately my own spot in the community, than it would be to change my skill set to match that of an already vacant spot in the Whole, it may be what I have to do.  And why not?  A couple of the skills I like to think I have are patience and resourcefulness.  I've been told by a couple of respectable folks down the road that I'm a pretty sharp guy, and I can do a math problem or two, aren't I qualified enough to go out on my own and find my own way?  

So I find myself planning to start my own business.  What will it be?  Well it may be many things, but one idea that already out in discussion-land is opening a combination cafe and bike shop.  It's an idea that Joey had months ago that we've both been mulling over and adding to ever since.  We've got notions about where we'd like to open it, what kind of vibe it should have, what the food will be like, what kinds of services we'll offer, who our customer base will be, and we've looked around at some similar types of places in other parts of the world thanks to the ol' internets.  Of course neither of us has done anything like this before, but here's the thing: we're well aware that attempting something like is challenging and loaded with the potential for failure, but that's okay.  If we give it all we got, and after a year and a half bite the dust, we'll still have been doing something we really cared about for a year and a half.  Debt is something that we can deal with.  But I sure hope the community realizes it wants a combination cafe and bike shop...