What to do, where to go, jobs needed for all

As four years of collegiate academic and athletic experience come to a close, so does a chapter of one’s life. When this chapter ends there’s another to follow, meaning after college a lot of us will begin our J-O-B’s and not all of the athletes will be going pro. As a matter of fact, with the exception of one or two, probably none of the athletes leaving St. John Fisher College this year will be.
For athletes there’s always an alternative, like semi-pro or amateur leagues that do pay. Conversely, the pay is miniscule in those types of leagues and only the best of the athletes here have that opportunity. So in the end, walking that stage in May, the blackness that looms ahead looms for all of us, athletes and students alike.
Although the first job to come along is statistically speaking not the career to end up being life-long for most, it’s still a factor riddled decision. For instance, more pay or less pay and a job that’s a better fit for you? Going to a new location and starting over or staying around the places you feel most comfortable? At some point these are all decisions that everyone has to make.
So this is the predicament; a job offer in Syracuse that pays more but is in a field that I’m not as familiar with against a low paying job in Rochester that I’m at ease doing. The positives of the Syracuse job are there, and the negatives are temporary. Accordingly, the Rochester job will have its initial positives and temporary negatives. Honestly, the only real difference between these jobs balances on choosing between money and happiness.
In Syracuse, a young man can go and make a living, fend for himself, become independent in a world where that might not have been completely true up until this point. While becoming self-sufficient, initially there will be less friends and acquaintances to spend the down hours with. Although a whole new network of friends, acquaintances, colleagues and connections will be forged, that start-up period can be tough for anyone in a new place. This is in fact not a negative in the end, everybody has the ability to make new friends, and family will always be there. There’s nothing wrong with being independent.
Rochester offers a situation basically mirroring that of the Syracuse job, showing you the reflection, a vice-versa of sorts. Yes, I’ll need a roommate to have a dual income with, but the money will come within a few years. Knowing that the money is inevitable, it’s easier to decide to stay in a comfortable place for me with more friends and a safer job surrounding.
Bottom line, in the ultimate equation that is life, decisions are made a thousand times over daily. Right or left, homework or leisure time, water or beer, pants or shorts it doesn’t really matter, you end up doing what you see fit no matter what. Ah, you do what you see fit, overall we make the decisions we do to make ourselves happy, and in the end that’s all that really matters. Money may make some happy, but I find it bottomless and although securing, never really fulfilling.
That is why, this weekend sewed up the decision I’ll make about going into the work field. Yes, it is quite the dilemma, but here’s my thinking.  I have a whole lifetime to make millions, but you want to know what, I don’t have a lifetime to stay in the city in which I grew to a man with thousands of other young adults.  That is something special.
Now is the time for all of us seniors, athletes and students alike, to move on to the next phase in our lives.  We may be going on to the next step, but we will each choose our own set of stairs to follow.

STAFF WRITER
BRETT FINDLAY
Email address:
bgf8140@sjfc.edu

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