Reality

*Sigh*

I was highly involved in music and theater in both high school and college. Heck, I even got a Master’s Degree in playwriting. But through all of that, I never once lost sight of reality and expected to make my living doing that stuff. It was fun, and I’m glad I did it. But I also grew up.

Through the invention of Facebook, I have been catching up with a lot of people from my high school and college days. I’m shocked at how many of them never let those dreams go. Some are actually getting work as actors or musicians, and I’m happy for them. But some are waiting tables or working crappy retail jobs and still waiting for that “big break” that never comes. This makes me sad, but I also kind of wonder what went wrong.

I think our education system sometimes encourages this kind of thing. The activities kids do in high school like sports, music, speech, drama, and so forth are all great. But kids form their identities at that age, and there are very few people who actually have careers in sports and entertainment.

So reach for your dreams, kids. But don’t lose sight of the ground, or you’ll fall on your ass. And also, never make a Facebook page and ask all your friends to become your “fans”. Wait until you have actual fans, or people are just going to laugh at you.

Seriously.