It’s a Calling
There’s a reason that some of the most stressful and vital jobs in society come with disproportionately low salaries. These sorts of jobs, like law enforcement officer, pastor, teacher, soldier…they are vital to our society and yet the people who pursue these sorts of careers are often quite willing to accept the comparatively low pay that comes with them. This doesn’t seem to make sense until you recognize that they’re often not so much career choices as callings.
When you believe you are called to pursue a particular line of work, answering that calling provides a level of fulfillment and compensation in your life that works to make up for lacking monetary compensation. Those pursuing their callings find contentment that diminishes the overt desire to demand the highest salaries. The market rightly responds to this fact by modifying salaries downward. This is not to say that people in these professions cannot rise above the average level of compensation, but even at the lower levels of pay those answering a calling will continue to do yeoman’s work with little or no promise of increased financial gain. Sadly, this characteristic can leave individuals or whole professions ripe for exploitation.
The ones who soon begin to balk and accumulate bitterness at the seeming injustice in this arrangement make clear that they see their profession not as a calling, but as a job. I’m not trying to make value judgments here, but I think the observation is accurate.
I think that design fits comfortably into the list of professions that many perceive as a calling rather than merely a career choice. This is true for many of the designers I know and it is true for me. This is what I’m supposed to be doing and I will not choose to do anything other than pursue my current profession. I and others I know have sacrificed much in order to do so. This is not something one does for a mere job.
Designers can be highly-paid, but this is the exception rather than the norm. Although I chafe at the needless indignity of the fact, many designers endure ridiculous circumstances and ugly, myopic, or gravely-unhealthy company culture—often for embarrassingly-low wages—all so that they can continue to pursue their calling. I don’t mean to say that it’s entirely healthy to do this, but those pursuing a calling will do so and complain little.
As I’ve mentioned before, I think there’s a difference between those working on a career and those pursuing their calling. What are you pursuing?
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Comments (5)
Definitely can agree with this, though at the same time in my case having the positive work environment is something I consider to be an equal part of my “calling”. Typically the work that comes out of the aforementioned apathetic, myopic work environments wouldn’t be up to snuff with what could be called “calling-worthy” heh. Does that even make sense?
I think that you have some of your facts confused. Police officers, teachers (who only work 8 months a year) and a lot of pastors make very good money. Although I am not that familiar with your line of work, I think you will find that many people sell themselves short and work too cheap.
We were talking about this just today, actually! I work at my church as a designer, and while I won’t indicate my wage, I will say it is definitely below the ‘standard.’ But this point is moot, because I am *called* to my work; it is much apart of my identity as my personality or my integrity.
@gord Respectfully, I would like you to define ‘very good money.’ While there are always exceptions to generalizations, the average is that most of those positions don’t pay nearly enough. My grandfather is a pastor, my brother in-law is an officer, and my close friend is a teacher. I can personally testify that none of them make ‘very good money.’ Tenure results in higher pay, but that is years of work and service, and not everyone ends up seeing that kind of cash flow. Mind you, those truly there for the work and not for the money care little about it in the long run. Again, there are exceptions, maybe even a large number, but that is not the majority.
@gord Saying that teachers only work 8 months out of the year is something only people utterly ignorant with the teaching profession have the gall to say. Sure they get a couple of months off in the summer, the other half is spent planning the next years curriculum, meeting with the rest of the staff, packing up and unpacking supplies, etc. Not to mention evenings and weekends spent meeting with parents, going to/organizing school activities, grading papers, tutoring, mentoring, etc, etc, etc. Of course not every teacher gives 110% to be the very best teacher they can be for their students, but to try and say that by and large they have it easy and make “very good money” because they “have summer off” is a ridiculous thing to say. Sorry to go off on you, but every single person in my family except me is a teacher and has worked a ridiculous amount for what they’re paid only to be under appreciated and to be told by people like you that their job is easy, or that they’re paid plenty, because they “have the summers off”.
As you can see from my aggressive and prolific use of commas I would never have made it very far as a teacher :P
Only an ignorant moron would have to take the whole summer to unpack that takes a day at best. Lesson plans maybe one day to bascially cover the same assignments year after year after year. Lets not even get into all the school vacations that teachers get off in addition to 3 months of the summer off. Oh, I forgot the important teacher developement days that require an addittional day off each month. Lets not forget that these part time jobs come with lavish pensions that last on average 26.5 years. Teachers are wayyyyy overpaid.
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