A: Not much, just hanging out with people who are younger than me.
Q: Oh yeah? Can't find too many friends your own age, eh?
A: You have no idea how severely unfunny that is. In fact, these teenagers are actually pretty cool. I've known them for a while.
Q: So what's up with the title?
A: I'm getting there! Sheesh!
Last night I was giving advice to a friend. Specifically, I was giving advice to a teenaged friend about boys. Via text message. While I was sitting in Baker's Square with a friend who I've known since high school. Because I'm incredibly rude. (I'd say you probably wouldn't believe how often I text other people when I'm out with real people...but like I said, you probably wouldn't believe it.) Anyway, I'm not saying I know a lot, but I have good instincts, and I care about people. So that's where all my texting was coming from.
My friend who I was eating pie with made the observation that I've been doing this for a long time. I almost wish that I could have asked him dubiously what he was talking about, but I already knew what he was saying. I've been collecting friends and surrounding myself with people who could benefit from my advice. In high school, I "adopted" freshmen, and in college, I was adamant about wanting to work in a first year hall as an RA. And now that I'm out of school, I'm helping out with my local Girl Scout troop. My friend made the comment that I can be the "cool and hip" adult person in old TV shows that picks up the main character from the police station, gives them a lecture in the car about responsibility, and then the credits roll. I immediately thought of Full House. But I'm not really sure I can be Uncle Jesse.
This realization isn't really something that should come as a surprise to me. It's just something that I do, kinda like breathing. And obsessively checking Facebook even though I know that nothing interesting could have happened in the span of five minutes.
So I find myself thinking that this is something I'd like to do with my life. In The Future, maybe. I want to be able to give people advice, or help them when they're struggling with something. And I think that's what draws me to residential life at universities, because I had such a great mentor while I was at school, and I'd like to serve as the same type of person for another student. When I say I want to "help people," this is the capacity in which I want to help them. I want to get on their level or be able to say, "I've been there," or "I care about you" and mean it.
And this is when I realize that this tendency toward "mentoring" the young is exactly why people think I would make a good teacher. Not just because of the formal teaching aspect that would come as a function of my own knowledge and studies, but because I could also be that teacher that the students could confide in.
I'm not really sure where this takes me, but I do know that self-reflection is a big part of the job search. At least, that's what What Color Is Your Parachute? tells me. Because I'm a nerd. Not the point. Anyway, I'm sitting here thinking about it, and residential life just seems to make more and more sense. It just feels like it could be a natural extension of the person I already am. Hm.
"I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself."
- Oscar Wilde
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