I’ve come to the realization that I am a very lucky person to have such a stunningly educated family that allows me to be free and learn from my own troubling experiences. I’ve been able to express myself however I wanted, wear whatever I wanted, say anything I wanted and most importantly, choose my own future. My career is obviously leading to a creative one, which I’ve now realized is so deeply frowned upon by tons and tons of people.
Social media has allowed me to follow many successful creatives that I aspire to be like. There are photographers like Steven Klein and Miles Aldridge, or fashion designers like Riccardo Tisci, Victoria Beckham and even Donatella Versace who are all very successful and extremely well known. There are painters like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol and even Frida Kahlo who are famous beyond belief. Actors/Actresses basically dominate the world along with singers such as Beyoncé and Madonna. Yet despite all these famous faces, creative careers are still extremely discouraged. I know that because I’ve been told, to my face, multiple times, that those careers are jokes.
A couple months ago, my friend Michael and I were exploring the downtown area of our hometown when I realized that I was going to die of a heat exhaustion if my body didn’t consume water, so we ended up at the closest place, Starbucks, which gives out free water. We arrived and sat at a table in the far corner of the Starbucks. Michael approached me to ask me what to get. “Water,” I said. Before he was able to even move a foot to order, a woman behind us asked if we could add a contact on her phone. Both Michael and I didn’t think much of it, she was older so her not knowing how to do it was justified. We both expected that to be the end but we quickly realized that it was most definitely not.
She sat at our table and began talking to us about her life. I personally felt like a therapist; I felt as if in 10 minutes she had poured out her entire life in front of us. I don’t mind people telling me their stories, I’d never tell anyone; I always feel a responsibly whenever I’m told secrets. She exclaimed that she didn’t want our sympathy but in spite of that, I felt bad; she seemed very hurt and damaged. She was very tired of her life in a way and hearing her story really supported her true reasoning of being so depressed. Everything was going somewhat smoothly until she decided to bring up our lives. “Que quieres estudar tú?” she asked me curiously. “Escritor,” I replied. It’s what I tell everyone because writing is the base of my work; my foundation.
There was a look of such disappointment in her eyes. I didn’t understand why as I had barely met this lady at a local Starbucks. She began explaining to both Michael and I that it truthfully wasn’t a realistic career. Michael wants to act so, in a way, her comment included him as well. She explained that those were hobbies, not jobs. The moment she said that I knew, I knew I was ready for a debate; I love changing people’s perspective on certain topics. “El punto de la vida es de vivir feliz a tú manera,” I told her.
However, before she let me continue she began telling me about small training schools that paid well. I really wasn’t feeling her because, in a way, she was disrespecting me. She spoke with both a grimace and disappointment in her face. With the schools she mentioned, came multiple careers that I’d never follow. In my mind, I said, “I’m not going to become a nurse, lady.”
After attempting to crush our dreams, she also mentioned our sexuality, trying to be the utmost respectfully, though. I did admire her tone and choice to not bash us. She also began mentioning God and Christianity, which is already a slippery road considering the history of homosexuality and religion. Michael was completely done with her since the beginning of this all, so at this point, he was trying to shut me up; he really wanted to leave. He kept signaling at me with his eyes to shut up so that we’d be able to leave already. Of course, I didn’t; I was somewhat interested in this ladies crazy antics.
She admitted that we looked like good people – pure kids. I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment but I took it as one. “Alejate del sexo y acercarse a dios,” she continued saying in an attempt to get us to vow to it. That did not sit well with me; I’m a very pro-sex type of person. I don’t care if you have sex with 4 or 9 different people in a day. There’s nothing wrong with it. So it was bizarre [to me] how anti-sex she was. People had clearly f*cked her over harshly, I guess. While attempting to figuratively not allow us to have sex, she also attempted to shove God down our throat, which, like I said, is not the best route to a formal conversation with 2 satanic gays.
Michael at this point was messaging his sister and asking her to call him so we could pretend as if we were leaving. He was also still signaling to me to shut up. At that point, I listened to him and went with the flow. I really wanted to leave because, newsflash, I was still thirsty. I really needed water. She eventually came to her senses and chose to let us go. She shook our hand and, excitingly, told us what a pleasure it was to meet us. Above it all, I truly don’t believe she’s a bad person. I believe that life just really kicked her ass hard and it sucks. I, obviously, don’t know her entire life so I’m judging her based on a few stories that she told both Michael and myself.
Throughout everything, the horrible perception of creative careers was the highlight of our conversation. I think it’s what impacted me the most because it wasn’t the first time that someone expressed disappointment in my career choice. However, it didn’t affect me to the point where I’d divert my plans. After all, these are people that I’ll (hopefully) never see again in my life. But I do know that not everyone is like me, not everyone takes criticism lightly and that’s why I think people need to be judged less based on what they want to do for the rest of their life. Maybe someone wants to be a stripper or maybe someone wants to be President of the United States. All of our dreams are completely valid and it’s ultimately up to each individual person if they choose to pursue them. Not yours.
