Colliding without Collision

Finding a job. Finding a job you love. Finding a job that pays well. Do I have to? For the present moment, this would be impossible. Not that I would be inadequate for any opportunity, but my life is simply to busy to pen in anything more onto my calendar. This summer, I will embark on this quest. In summers past, I have. I detassled for a GroAlliance crew. It was "fun" and paid well. This summer, I hope to attain a summer-long job that is a little less laborious. I have talked with many other friends about this matter. We are all in the same boat as we row near a money-sucking time in life----college. Everyone won't get that full-ride academic or sport scholarship, and not everyone has a billionaire as their uncle. Everyone, well except those who are fortunate enough to defy the previous sentence, needs money. I think it's safe to say this is the primary intention for attaining any job at my age.

It's easy to think introspectively about the whole matter. My trip to China redirected my introspection to a global perspective. Through the cultural spectacles, I saw the unfortunate fates of job-seeking/job-holding people my age around the world.

These cultural spectacles were forced upon my face at dinner in Beijing. When we entered the authentic Chinese restaurant, I wasn't expecting anything much different from the previous two weeks of meals. I always love it when my expectations are succeeded. The group was directed downstairs to an elegantly decorated master room. We approached a round table dressed with fine silk and china ware. Together we sat, impressed and starved. As typical in the country, food would be another half hour. Now what?

If you knew anyone in the tour group, the answer was never to twiddle our thumbs in silence, listening only to the crickets in the background...do they have crickets in China?... So we talked, and talked, and talked. Then once we got tired of hearing each other, we beckoned over our waiter to converse with him.

Using "we" is rather misleading. Rather "we" didn't converse; my teacher and the waiter conversed. Both Chinese, they spoke as if their words were in a sprint--the 100 yard dash. I caught a few words and phrases here and there. Ultimately, I was in need of a conversation rehash from my teacher.

It was then that the spectacles went on. As she relayed the conversation back to our eager ears, we sat with jaws dropped. The waiter was just a few years our senior. He lived at this restaurant in Beijing. Talk about a dog on a tight leash. His accommodations were paid for--housing and water/electric bills. Sounds luxurious? No. Far from that. This waiter, like all the others at the restaurant, received the same pay check.....about $100 American dollars A MONTH. Do the math. That's less than 70 cents an hour... and I thought our minimum wage of $7.25 was nothing. But to these individuals, this nothing was something. Our waiter dropped out of school, left home, and independently in need of an income and housing. To him, this was perfect. But like anyone, Chinese our American, he was working for a bigger picture. He was hoping to earn enough money to go to college. Sound familiar?

We (my contemporaries around the world and I) can relate. Indeed, our innate similarities far out-weight our trivial differences. And to think, this was without a collision--it was nature. What a thought.