We Need Pioneers and Less Settlers

There's a lot of talks about race and representation in the media today. I think the media is making it a bigger deal than it should be. Some of the interviews I've read recently had me questioning the motives of the article. Do we need to see a representation of ourselves to know what we want to do in life? I don't think so. If there's something that we truly want to do we should find ways of doing it. I know it's impossible for everyone to think alike but the media makes it sound like there's a general consensus that we need others to pave a path for us. Why do we even need to follow paths? With everything changing today will this even be talked about in the future?

One of the issues I have with some of the stories I've read concerning representation is that the interviews are conducted with people that are usually middle class privileged people. I don't understand anyone that has the opportunity to do whatever they want could need to see someone in the media that represents them? I'm sure they can figure out what they want to achieve without having to emulate someone else. They also don't go deep into what the the person being interviewed was trying to achieve or what they've done to change their circumstances. There's little else known about the people in these interviews. It seems like a sales scheme. Yes we do need more inclusive environments. This doesn't mean that people will not want to go into an industry unless they see a representation of themselves already doing it.

We are fixated at having people that look like us to achieve things that we can't. Why can't we achieve things on our own. I can sort of see how this relates to how people who live vicariously through their children. It's a lot easier seeing someone do the required work than doing it ourselves. There of course are obstacles and naysayers along the way. It should be common knowledge that we have to ignore them to achieve our goals.

I think it's our jobs as a human beings to stop being so lazy and see what is out there in the world. If we have a glimmer of opportunity we should use those opportunities to discover what we want to do in life. It sometimes reminds me of people complaining that they can't do certain things but in reality they don't want to do the work or take criticism. Yes it's tough but giving up because a representation of you didn't already do it seems like a really poor excuse to quit anything.

If you're carving your own path in the world, there should be obstacles. If someone cleared the way for you already where does your sense of accomplishment come from? You can be proud of your business if your parents fronted you money to start but you'd have a better sense of accomplishment if you built it from the ground up! The work to success is never really mentioned.

There are still pioneers today that we don't hear about because they are carving their path right now. They will get their time to shine eventually regardless if they succeed or not. If they succeed it'll be a great success story. If they don't it's a lesson learned and eventually they will achieve success after learning from their mistakes.

I wonder if this is mentality comes from our education system. I say this because we are given a certain amount of choices in school. We learn to select only those options because the paths had already been made. We then follow steps to become "good and productive citizens." In reality we can amalgamate any of these options or create our own options that aren't readily available.

All is conversation may be all for nothing with the way the world is going right now. All the traditional careers we have now may change or become nonexistent. Representation might not even be that much of an issue. With knowledge readily available over the Internet, professions such as programmers and scientists can be learned by anyone. Models and actors are a dime a dozen thanks to Instagram and YouTube. The world is becoming smaller thanks to new methods of communication and travel. I just hope people discover their own path to success rather than waiting around hoping for someone to inspire them.