Childhood Ambitions

Son No 3 has been contemplating his future career options. I have told him if he studies hard and finishes university ("... is it very hard?" "no, dear.."), he can be anything he wants. That started him thinking...

At the foodcourt, he thought of being the food-seller (hawker) so that he can collect money. But then he was worried. "What if I forget who orders what?" he wondered aloud.

After watching a 9/11 documentary on the History channel, he wanted to be a fire-fighter. Again, doubts crept in. "What if I need to go inside but I can't?"

Nevertheless, he was very sure what he did NOT want to be. He did not want to be a teacher. I was very surprised. When asked why, he said he could not stand it when the children made a lot of noise. I told him that as the teacher, he could ask them to keep quiet. He countered, "What if they still don't keep quiet?" Then he cited a boy named Wayan in his class who was very naughty. Ahem, I wonder what he has been experiencing in school... is his teacher really so helpless?

Then today, in the car, he asked me why is it that some police ride on the motorcycle and some in the police car? I explained to him that those who ride on the motorcycle are the traffic police and they catch people who bang other people's car and do not follow traffic lights. Those who are in the police car catch thieves and other bad people.

Son No 3 then declared he wanted to be the traffic police. Then again, being the cautious fellow that he is, he has two worries:

1. What if people bang him when he is asking the cars to go (at a traffic junction)?


2. What happens when he is sleeping at night and people bang each other?

Well, there's still plenty of time for him to change his mind... !