hyena said:
@fireangel: yeah, 'twas work-related. i would need 4 more weeks which i don't have to finish everything i need to do, but i'm also very tired and i would like to go on holiday right now. which doesn't make a lot of sense.
yeah, I can see your point. For me it was not exactly the same, I too, need more time to do the things I want to, but on the other hand I am looking forward to summer, so I can´t really decide..
hyena said:
as for your social usefulness idea... i've thought hard about the thing and here's my conclusion. there's two ways of being involved in jobs that allow you, say, to lessen the suffering of people caught in a war. the first way: working for a non-governmental organization, especially if you choose to live in a third world country and work for the destitute there. the second way: working somewhere that will get you either into politics at the international level or into the group of technocrats who control the financial flows towards developing countries. the first way has a huge catch, which is: you don't make enough money in ngo's, so some of your life plans could end up being crippled.
thanks a lot for contributing (and first of all making) your thoughts!
I thought about that also, and I would not work for an NGO right at the basis. Two reasons for that: First of all I am realistic enough to have noticed that I am not the person who could deal with a lot of misery impersonating every day in front of her eyes; I know I wouldn´t be able to cope with it, besides there is climatic issues that I know are too much for me (been "there" for real already) if I had to live at the places for a longer time. But more important to me is: this doesn´t change too much of the
reasons behind, and that is where my interest lays.
It would be so much more effective to prevent conflicts becoming violent, or having better negotiations within the conflict and to care for that things don´t even get bloody in the first point, or calm down and get solved. So when you are working for the World Food Programme, or the Red Cross (not as bureaucrat, but at the front), you get always the "leftovers", when there is not much to do at the origins of the conflict anymore.
I know there are people working in programs that try to make former enemies talk to each other again, and to soothe the wounds, too. Not sure what to think about its suitability for myself.
hyena said:
the second way has a catch too, which is: very long-term planning and very hard work is required, although at least the salaries are good.
that kind of thing, into politics (in the background) is what would interest me, where they prepare the decisions. And here you have my troubling point: for this kind of stuff, I would for example need to orientate to UN-institutions, and work to get an internship there (and to become much much better in english, and french, too...). Just at the moment, all I want is move northwards and go to metal-gigs. Seriously. I am sick and tired of moving to different places, and I don´t want to circle between Geneva, Brussels and Vienna, somehow this doesn´t interest me at all anymore, (five years ago it would have), not even if I would know that with this way, I could get a kind of job I am dreaming of.
Probably I already answered the questions myself..
hyena said:
i don't think there is a third way, if you want to actually work in this area.
well, there is a little path, which leads into research, and this I see still open... Or I would decide for a more "normal" geographical topic, such as town planning or prevention concepts towards natural hazards.
hyena said:
have you ever thought of choosing the career path which appeals more to you, i. e. something in culture/advertising/music, and then devoting your free time to volunteer work? this might strike a good balance for you.
I think about this all the time, (besides the volunteer work, because I think there is not much "decisive" to do, reasons as above) but just following what I feel like, and there is this huge blinking sign that says "do something in the culture/music-sector". It probably will turn out as a decision between reason and feeling
Anyhow, I wanna finnish my studies and take the exams (though I am not terribly motivated to do so), because who knows, maybe in ten years later I will change again, and then I could work in the field I studied.
Damn, life is complicated
thanks for caring
