Oh But The Children!

I have been thinking about this a lot lately.It may be to the fact that I have two boys of my own OR it may just be the fact that my mind drifts from topic to topic all day. I'm kind of perplexed about this one and I haven't had the chance to really flesh this out, so don't mind the broken thoughts and questions.

Does the profession/career/job we choose determine what our children will do? I ask this because lately my eldest son has told my wife and I that he is making movies, taking pictures and filming stuff. He is very particular about it all too. He likes to grab a tripod and go to work with his camera and then he sets up a stool and says its his desk. I can't help but feel proud of some of the terms he's picking up and that he knows what different video equipment is for. I am still left thinking about some things though.

When I was growing up my dad was a drywaller/taper/steel stud guy. I hated drywall. I swore at a young age I wouldn't do that for a job. I swore I would not put my hands and my back through the same torture and pain that my dad gets to deal with everyday now. There was something in me that completely turned me off of the thought of doing drywall for a living.

So what is it in us that decides what we want to do in our lives? Is there some weird sort of connection thing inside us that tells us what we're 'meant to do'?

One thing I am learning right now, and I think it's from a huge shift in our society, is I don't need to look to my employer for purpose & meaning OR finances. I know that finances thing is kind of coming out of left field BUT I think it all ties together. I look at generations before me where men and women would work at the same place for 30-40 years and keep doing the same thing. The boss was good to them, they got a retirement check out of the deal and life went on. The pay was steady, the work was there, you just did what needed to be done. Now I am making an assumption here, so correct me if I'm wrong, a lot of those people would classify who they were by what they did. If they worked on cars, they would be a mechanic or if they worked with sowing machines, they were seamstresses.

I love what I do. I have been working in two professions in my life now. I have loved both of them, one more than the other... but I have come across a realization that whatever it is that I do it can easily be taken away from me. When it is, who am I? Do I still have meaning and purpose? I think we wrap too much of ourselves in what we do and not who we are. I think it comes down to character.

So, who are you?