Quoted By:
My Dearest Callie,
Due to a clerical error, I wasn't able to have that fated meeting today. I'll have to go back sometime later in the week to meet with the counselor. Perhaps I should give you some context. I went to college, went into debt, spent four years of my life and thousands of dollars training to enter a field that didn't want me. I'm a Cybersecurity major, and after being told all of my life about how important college was and how lucrative the tech field was and how badly they needed people, I graduated to find that the entire industry had been shipped overseas, handed over to foreign workers willing to work slave hours for slave wages. I've been struggling to find a decent job ever since, only being able to land remedial ones. But those only do so much, and while the situation in the tech field has been starting to improve under the recent administration, things aren't improving fast enough, and the situation has already been straining my relationship with my family for some time now. If not for the student debt freeze, I likely would have drowned. But I can't continue like this, so I've decided to make a drastic change: I'm changing my career.
I'm becoming a plumber, like my grandfather was. During my time of stagnation I had developed a newfound appreciation for the infrastructure around us. Many people barely even notice the water running beneath our feet, or the electricity that flows over our heads, or how buildings are built or how roads and bridges and stop lights are designed. But I do see it, and within in it I see beauty, and nobility. I see a sense of purpose. Something tangible that I can see, and feel, and point to and go "I helped make this, I'm working to keep the people in my community alive." I'm not just playing around with invisible numbers floating in the air like I was trained to do, with the only tangible feedback coming from failure. This is what I want to do, and at this point it's either this, or nothing.
I apologize for this letter being all over the place, but I'm all over the place right now. This topic brings about a tumultuous storm of thoughts and emotions in me, many of them unpleasant, and I do not wish to burden you with them. You have your own life to worry about. But do understand that you're already helping me through this, you and your peers, just by being who you are. Your streams are a significant source of comfort for me, a moment in time where I can step away from the problems that plague me and just enjoy your company for a while. That's why I wish to be a part of the rock that keeps you steady during your times of uncertainty: We, the calley cats, and you, we both support each other, encourage each other to live our best lives. And you've worked so, so hard to achieve your best life. So what kind of calley cat would I be if I didn't work hard too?
Forever Struggling, John Nyadams
