People always ask me, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Over the years, my answer has changed many times. At the same time, it has stayed the same. I used to want to be a vet. I love animals and I'm very good with them. I would still love to work with them. However, as a vet, I would have to make some tough decisions. I would have to witness things I hope I never have to see. I might have to see animals that have been abused or animals that need to be put down. I don't think I would be able to do that. However, I still have a dream involving animals. I want to open a cage-less animal shelter. It will probably be in an abandoned warehouse that I rent and fix up. There will be different parts of the place for different types of animals. The warehouse will look like a home and feel like a home... that way, the animals won't be so miserable all the time. Of course, animals need cages sometimes. Like rabbits need to be put in a cage when you take them to the vet. That's okay. And animals that are aggressive can't always be with the other animals. However, no animal deserves to be in a cage for hours, days, months, even years. It's not fair. That's not the only program I want to start. I love horses and horseback riding, and I think it can be very therapeutic. I want to start a program so that special needs children and adults can work with horses. I think it would be very sweet and moving.
That's not all for me, though. I plan on going to college, to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia. I love the Richmond area, so I want to go to college there. There is so much to do and so much history down there. I plan on getting my master's degree in psychology so that I can be a therapist for teens and young adults. I like helping people with their problems; I always have. However, there are some things I'm better at that I wish I could do. If I had the money, I would go to law school to become a lawyer. I'm good at arguing and I usually win (and when I don't win, I've at least gotten my point across and given people something to think about). However, I wouldn't be able to defend someone I know is guilty. Lawyers don't always have a choice at who they do and don't defend though. So for now, I'll stick to psychology. I want to go back to college, though, to be a high school teacher. I don't know exactly what I want to teach yet; since I'm a write and an avid reader, I think I'll probably be an English teacher. I've tutored in the past, and I've noticed that I have good patience and am very good at helping people understand things.
I want to get married when I'm older. I kind of have trust issues, and I don't ever want to get a divorce, so I expect that it'll take me a while to agree to marry someone. However, it's still a goal I have. I want two dogs in a nice-sized house; I would like a Boxer (like my dad's dog) and a Great Dane. I would like to have a stable income with little or minimal debt, and I don't want to have to depend on anyone or anything. I want to be independent.
Most of all, I want to be happy.
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ReplyDeleteWow, Imani Jai, it is clear you've done some deep thinking about your future! There is a quote from Confucius of which I am very fond, "Find a job you love, and you'll never work a day in your life." My father always stressed that same basic idea to me while I was growing up (a long, long time ago ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm trying to lead this discussion toward a definite end. You are new to this class, and you are clearly motivated to work toward your goals and dreams. We meet for about an hour a day, and there are about 45 days left in the school year, so you've got 45 valuable hours in here to do something good.
I'd now like you to think about the following question: What is one thing that I can't do now that I'd like to be able to do 45 days from now that involves the use of information and communications technology? I've already mentioned two things that occurred to me from listening to you talk about your interests:
1. Investigating copyright law and how it applies to you and your books.
2. Exploring digital publishing and how it applied to you and your books.
Those are just suggestions. It is up to you what you do, but I want you to find something that produces and concrete result (by making something, or learning something and writing about -- which is again "making" something). I'll feel I've done my job if you leave here in 45 days being able to look back on what you did in here with pride and a feeling of accomplishment.