Astronauts - By Benkei
You can be anything: they told me. Damn liars. Who has that ever been true for? Im in a dead-end bullshit job pushing papers around to pay off too much debt. I cant even remember why I got into debt. Everybody but trust babies have debt. Student debt, a mortgage, two credit cards and a car loan. But really, I wanted to be an astronaut.
Im already frustrated when I get home. Two kids screaming, a wife with a short-fuse from the screaming and Im grumpy as hell, because I hate my job. I sigh and force a smile in my voice.
Whats going on, kids? as I tussle both their hair.
They look up, happily distracted for a moment that Im home. They clamp themselves to my legs but then Orvy starts crying again.
I tried building the Lego truck, but I just cant do it.
Oh son, of course you can. If you put your mind to it, Im sure you can.
Really?
Of course! It takes time and effort but practice makes perfect. You can be anything.
Can I be an astronaut?
I lift him up above me. Definitely! Ignition start! We have lift off!
Im already frustrated when I get home. Two kids screaming, a wife with a short-fuse from the screaming and Im grumpy as hell, because I hate my job. I sigh and force a smile in my voice.
Whats going on, kids? as I tussle both their hair.
They look up, happily distracted for a moment that Im home. They clamp themselves to my legs but then Orvy starts crying again.
I tried building the Lego truck, but I just cant do it.
Oh son, of course you can. If you put your mind to it, Im sure you can.
Really?
Of course! It takes time and effort but practice makes perfect. You can be anything.
Can I be an astronaut?
I lift him up above me. Definitely! Ignition start! We have lift off!
Comments (29)
Space travellers. Earth escapers.
A frustrated husband and father remembers his boyhood desire to be an astronaut.
Did he 'really' want to be one, when he didn't even know what it meant, what it took.
Seduced by images on American television. Showing success and wide smiles.
He is now blaming the mis-selling of the American Dream for his current situation.
But nobody forced him to engage in the wholesale consumption leading to debt.
His choice.
He forces a smile to greet his distracted and demanding kids.
What a life.
Instead of spending time helping his son build the Lego truck, he takes the easy way out. You can do anything you want to.
History repeats. No lessons learned.
He plays along. Pretending his son is lifting off. To escape the realities of Earth.
When tired I suppose that's what you do...
Anything for a quiet life. Fly high or die trying.
When will people wake up?
***
Interesting enough. It's a familiar tale.
It worked to make me feel...a sense of depression and frustration.
Just like the Dad...
And also ask: What can be done?
Thanks, author :sparkle:
Debt has not gone into the stratosphere because people think they need an education, a home and a car - they do need those things. So they get whatever kind of job the "labor market" offers. Very, very few can be astronauts - it's easier to be a football star or a senator.
No, he didn't need to fall in love and father two kids before he paid off the student loan. But it happens, and he's taking his responsibility seriously: is working to support them in whatever way is available to him. The scene with the children greeting him is proof enough that he's a good father.
And he's not about to cripple their dreams. He can't bring himself to say: "You're too clumsy and your little hands are too fat to build a Lego truck. Try something easier." The kid would be crushed. So, instead, he encourages the child to keep trying, tells him "You can do anything you put your mind to."
He hopes it's true this time, forthis little boy ... Just as his parents had hoped, in the teeth of all evidence - that it would be true for him.
Very well said.
Quoting Vera Mont
Maybe not. Since the 1789 there have only been 1,994 senators.
The "you can be anything you want to be" meme should NEVER be taken seriously. The top slots in ever field are limited through various means. There are many more 'lesser slots" to which we don't aspire all the way down to the sidewalk of the homeless.
Quoting Amity
True enough, nobody put a gun to his head, frog marched him into Macy's to max out his credit cards. BUT we ARE compelled to go into debt to obtain the expected standard of living (which means having some of the accoutrements of "prosperity"). The fact is, over the last 50 years, static or falling wages and steady inflation have made debt increasingly unavoidable. (Yes, a single person who is a good manager can get out and stay out of debt; it is very difficult for that same person to get married, have children, and still be debt free.)
And only 600-odd astronauts. Compare the qualifications and selection processes.
How odd are they? There should be an investigation.
Astronauts do have a difficult preparation period with high standards and all, but that's nothing compared to the waste, fraud, and abuse senators have to maintain for decades on end.
So true. Looking again at the debts:
Quoting Caldwell
Good reasons. Nothing of great extravagance. Especially, as you say, if married with children.
It's beautiful, a story about love and the protection of childhood imagination and innocence.
He's a patient and good father. It's a shame he is so dissatisfied with his own life but I think many parents find relief from the starkness of adult reality vicariously through the amazing creativity, roleplay skills and imagination of their children.
I think the protagonist should be proud of himself. Afford himself a little more credit. He couldn't make himself an astronaut but he could make his son feel like one.
In his sons eyes, he "is" NASA.
I wrote this story in about 15 minutes and didn't change any wording except to delete words to make it fit the word limit. It was a creative burst because I'm applying to a new job because I'm currently not really happy in my current position any more (basically everything I build last year was destroyed in one day by management). It's entirely autobiographical in the sense that I'm stuck in jobs that pay well and that I'm good at but they're neither meaningful nor something I'm passionate about. I'd love to teach actually but that won't pay the bills.
One should rest confident knowing such a force pays one's bills.
Quoting Benkei
Perhaps if the starving children of the world band together in prayer, such burdens will be forever erased from the memory of man.
My SO quit salaried jobs and switched to contracting, so he wouldn't be around when that happens -- with depressing regularity. I have witnessed the frustration, etc. If sympathy helps, you've got it!
He does tell a lie, a lie that does more harm than good to todays students because not only do they believe they can become anything they want, they feel like failures when they realize they can not. Since everyone realizes it at one point or other we have raised an insecure generation. The father here is still well behaving. Indeed practice makes perfect, and yes people can become astronauts so there is nothing wrong in trying and stimulating the kid to try. Only the phrase 'you can be anything' is off, that raises too high of an expectation. But hey, after a long and tiring day at a job one does not like, it is an easy oversight. The story is good, it is recognizable.
It is called work. It is rare to be passionate about a job. I am in some aspects of the job I do, but mostly not. A job that pays well is a good thing. You can have a nice life outside of the job. And I am sure the job is nothing really terrible or anything, just boring.
A job that pays well is actually very fulfilling I would reckon. Payment is the outcome of supply and demand. We just do not value teaching our kids that much, or there are enough people that can do it up to a standard that is considered acceptable. A good lawyer is valued more. The worth of your work is measured by your salary. In a capitalist society, price is praise.
Thank you for your virtue signalling. You'll be happy to know I can care both about starving children and my own happiness.
Not at age 3 or 4. That's the thing, see? Parents project their ideals, their hopes, their wishful thinking forward, onto the next generation, because they themselves are so reluctant to let go of The American Dream. It's insidious and pervasive.
Quoting Tobias
Once they become students, the onus should be on the education system to show each one what he or she is capable of, and how they can achieve a satisfying life. Society lets people down; the economy lets people down; the political regime lets people down -- at the same time it insures their continued co-operation with propaganda and false promises. Don't ask parents to cut the aspiration of their little kids down before they even know what their capabilities are! A few, a blessed few, will become astronauts and football stars and famous actors. Why not my beautiful, talented baby?
Quoting Tobias
Sure, but it's an American mantra; people have absorbed it and repeat it without a second thought.
Quoting Tobias
Damn right!
Nahhh, overly romantic thinking. You will have a job which does not give that much satisfaction and get paid less. Unless there is something you really want, like moving to the outback and raising your own chickens or something. But there is a reason people get paid for work, it is not intrinsically that much fun. You better see to it you get paid a lot.
Quoting Vera Mont
Yes, I know. So it is a lie at age 4 too... I do not understand what you mean. The fact that many buy into it does not make it anymore true.
Quoting Vera Mont
That is requiring a lot from the education system.... besides education systems in totalitarian states try that. It is not a success. Teachers teach, students will have to pick it up, or parish. Some of my students think they do not need to study hard. They will not become good lawyers. I do not mind because we do not need so many lawyers.
Quoting Vera Mont
I am not. I am just warning against laying too much pressure on them and making them actually believe they can do what they want to do. be fair about it. Sure there are great possibilities and with study and dedication you may well become an astronaut. What the father did here, lift up his kid play with it, is a good answer I think. People nowadays get told everywhere that if they put their will to it they can become everything, not at age 4, but later in their school career that idea should be nuanced at least.
Quoting Vera Mont
Sure, have hopes and dreams, stimulate them, support them, but know they are hopes and dreams and do not demand that they will be satisfied. I think we are not in disagreement actually.
It is to them! They're not telling a deliberate lie or a hurtful one; they're telling the child what they hope is true - and in some cases, it is.
Quoting Tobias
It's asking a lot, yes. I don't expect society to deliver most of what I ask for. But putting the burdens of society on parents who have grown up, been formed by, taken in by and live in the society is unfair, IMO. Like... The entire culture goes Santa-mad in November. You don't want to lie, but neither do you want your child to be the pariah of kindergarten. Every culture has its icons, delusions, myths and - yes - shared lies. If you live in the culture, and you know your child has to make its way in that same culture, you have some very difficult choices to make. Parenthood is a tiptoe through the alligators.
Quoting Tobias
Hold, on, though. He didn't say put your will to it; he said, keep trying, practice. What annoys me far more than raising their sights too high, is praising whatever children produce, no matter how poor an effort it is, leading them to believe they don't need to try at all. Or the other way around, demanding more than they're capable of. Parents do both.
It's tricky, finding the balance between enough encouragement that they reach for their highest potential and overinflating their self-esteem.
Quoting Tobias
Right. Slightly different perspectives.
No, they are telling their children they can become everything they want. That is not true. It is a lie. It is a hurtful one because now if they do not become what they want it is their own responsibility, they did not want it enough. The parents are not to blame. It is a persistent lie ingrained in what you referred to as ' the american dream.
Quoting Vera Mont
Why would it be any more fair on teachers? They are also taken in and live in society. No, you put 'em there, make sure you put something nice onto the world.
Quoting Vera Mont
Sure, so you lie to them. Not every lie is pernicious. We grew up with a great many lies and we tell a lot of them as an adult. This lie is pernicious. People grow up thinking that success is one's own responsibility. The father in this story keeps the dream of the child alive without explicitly telling the child he can become everything he wants. That is nice. I do not particularly like the story as a whole, just a matter of taste, but I do like the slightly bitter sweet ending, that is strong.
Quoting Vera Mont
Agreed. They do both. Often at the same time and often also telling them that if they put their will in it, they will succeed in meeting those high demands. A child's world is often sad and insecure I think. Though parents also often try as best as they can. Exactly because it is not a question of individual responsibility and individual control, I like to question pernicious cultural lies.
Quoting Vera Mont
exactly
I thought the protagonist and his author deserved a vigorous defence.
Of course, but the story may give rise to a larger discussion, no? The story is a snippet of life, but it may take readers to other places.
_____
Later that night, Ovry's dad had a dream. Little Ovry was in the basement, beneath a white paint-flaking ceiling with something in his mouth.
"What is that in your mouth, son?"
"I think it's a sinker."
"Take that out of your mouth! That's lead. Don't you know what lead does to a developing brain!? Exposure will reduce your intelligence quotient (IQ), cause behavioral changes such as reduced attention span and increased antisocial behavior. It's toxic to your future prospects as a respectable tax paying member of society. You'll never be able to want what you ought to become."
"Sorry dad, I didn't know."
Orvy's dad woke up. It was 3 am and he could hear the rain sounding on the roof, dripping from the eaves. Where are my lead fishing weights?
(Not that Im old enough to have actually listened to them in the 70s.... er... my Grand Papa told me about them. Ummm.... last year). :snicker:
Ohh no, no, a white lie does not. The story does convey some sort of message, even though you did not put it there. An author is a mere vehicle though. Quoting Caldwell This was your opening line... a little lie to cheer up has turned into 'damned lies' later on. That circle was actually tied the story together.