LIT and A Bad Career Choice?

In this post I’ll have to exercise some humility. I went through a drive-thru not too long ago and a young lady took my order. She was friendly and talkative, so I asked if she was a student at the local university. She was. She said she was studying criminology, and in an instant I was a little surprised at what happened in my mind.

While I was impressed that she was earning a bachelor’s degree and making money to support herself, in an instant I noticed I had a bit of a negative reaction to her choice of study. Criminology… Wow, I thought, she’s choosing to invest a lot of time and attention to crime, deviance, rebellion, probably mental illness, negativity, and the darker side of the human experience.

To be honest, I felt awkward about this thought even crossing my mind. It happened in a flash, and it felt judgmental, on my part. Again, I’m having to be humble here.

While I was a little uncomfortable with this intrusive judgmental thought, the conversation carried on and I got a really positive feeling from the lady. She was enthusiastic and inspired as she talked about her plans for the next few years of school. I drove away with a really good feeling after our chat.

Driving back home I thought I’d use the Light Inside Technique and consider possible reasons for her choosing to study criminology. One thought I had was that maybe she had some kind of negative experience with crime or criminals in her past and she was seeking some kind of solace. Maybe a family member spent time in prison and this inspired her curiosity. I really don’t know what her reasons were. But I wanted to see her choice in a positive light.

If she was actually seeking solace.. nothing wrong with that, because we all want emotional comfort and peace of mind. But then I realized, Ah!, she wants to study criminology, or understand criminology, in order to reduce crime in the community and maintain or increase peace and harmony among the citizens. What an honorable thing to do!

I don’t know why the negative thought came to mind about criminology, but I realized it could probably happen when considering ANY profession. In fact, many people probably had the same reaction when I told them I worked in the mental health field years ago. And why did I do that? Because I wanted to help people. I wanted to support people with finding more peace and happiness, just like the young lady studying criminology.

Is there any occupation the thought of which gives you a bad feeling?… an occupation you wonder why people would choose it? Can you think of some positive reasons someone would choose that particular job or profession, other than just to make money (which is also a good reason to choose a job)?

The work we do is a service to self and others, and an expression of love and care for the community.