The big dreams of a broke college graduate: a rant

I hate how everything worth doing in this world costs money. The people who are most qualified for professions that involve saving lives, curing illnesses, or bringing justice to crime victims are stuck in debt because everything is so damn expensive. At the same time, we can't devalue the "working man" jobs as alternatives for those who never had the chance to pursue higher education because those are the jobs that we never think about, but we would be screwed if they did not exist: the garbage men, the postal workers, the plumbers, the mechanics...

I got into this debate with my mom a couple days ago: is it necessary for some students to fall through the cracks, so to speak, so that we have people to fulfill those job positions? Is this sucky economy locking the newest graduating classes into jobs that may not allow them to use their full potential, since all the higher paying jobs require training that intelligent but indebted students just can't afford?

I am writing this, if you couldn't already tell, from the perspective of a disgruntled college graduate who is struggling to choose between a grad school with a perfect chaplaincy program, but has a tuition cost that will require selling off my firstborn to pay for it, and one with a not-so-specific-to-my-chosen-field-of-study program with a surprisingly reasonable tuition cost...and my heart is torn. The decision about which grad school I end up going to can't be made solely based on the cost, can it?

Perhaps I should start spending my tip money on lottery tickets, put out an ad for a sugar daddy on Craigslist, or sacrifice my dream of an apartment with a wall-to-wall bookshelf and settle for living in a shoebox. I am already feeling jaded and bitter about a future that has barely even started. *Sigh*

Then again, Joan of Arc was a fifteenth-century peasant with zero education who was somehow able to lead an army and change the world. I mean, if that was doable, then surely I can find a way to impact the world without having to sell my soul to pay off my inevitable debt...right? Right?

I had this picture in my head/Of where I ought to be and when/But it's just like the good advice/That John gave when he said/Life is what happens while we're busy making plans... "Sandcastles," Kate Voegele.

On a positive note, here's a little puppy cuteness to brighten your day:

"Why you put me in da sink, Mom?"

Answer: Because we found you sleeping in your own pee, you silly pup!