As I was traveling from Africa to Dubai, I meet an MIT graduate of Chemistry who had a comfortable job working for an Oil Company Abroad and lacked for nothing when it came to finances, but despite all this he still had some reserve when it came to the future. He told me of how things used to be nearly 10-20 years ago, where his MIT degree would hold more merit and weight in terms of jobs and opportunities. And I will never forget the words he said next, I believe it was the disappointment in the tone of his voice that made it so memorable; “Success is no longer achieved by what you know but by who you know”. He would later go on to tell me stories of people who were not qualified in terms of education and experience but got the job over a person who had an Ivy League education and experience in the field. At the time I was a young physics major facing all of the typical struggles a college student faces, but now on top of the typical worries came a new threat; THE JOB MARKET. In today’s economy the job market is ever changing, and not necessarily for the better. Even with a four-year college degree, whether it is from an Ivy League school or not; there are no guarantees that there will be a job waiting after graduation. The only GUARANTEE for after graduation is DEBT!!!
The average medical student debt after undergraduate and four-years of medical school is anywhere between the ranges of $350,000 to $600,000. Is there any profession or path in life that is safe from the wrath and destructive path of our economy? Jobs that would have been considered stable and respectable 10 years ago are quickly turning into a thing of the past. It will come to a point in the future where the notion of job security is not known by middle class and lower income families. And while many families struggle to live pay-check by pay-check, the gap between the rich and poor quickly expands. And the GRIM reality of it all is that, THE WORST IS YET TO COME. New policies implemented by corporations and many businesses are making the seemingly relentless job search even harder. Many employers are conducting credit checks on prospective employees and making it virtually impossible for graduates with poor credit, whether from student loans or other expenses, to find a job. But it is not the policy that frightens me as much as it is the difficulty it will cause to find a job with a slew of student loans dragging down our credit score. Because if a graduate with a four-year degree cannot find a job because their credit is bad, then what hope is there for financial security for the future?
The land of our forefathers, our rightful inheritance will one day be for our children the very land to which they are slaves too.
Political propaganda pushes slogans of garbage like change we can believe in, when the reality is that there will be no change. The freedoms that we have indulged ourselves with has slowly lulled us into complacency, and we will pay the ultimate price. We may not see the brunt of its ramifications in our finances or even in this lifetime, but our children and our grandchildren will feel the ripples of our actions everyday. A notion that I believe would benefit America, the notion that everything we do today affects our children and grandchildren. Every step, action and decision we make today will influence our offspring somehow. So I leave you with a simple question! ARE YOU WILLING TO REFORM FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW??
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no-one thinks of changing himself.”
Leo Tolstoy
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