To Change the World
My life mission had been clear from the very start. In high school, I knew that I could have chosen several different paths, any of which might easily have led to success, both financial and emotional. My options were all quite appealing: Music Performance or Education. This was the path where I had the most professional backers. My music teachers in school urged me to go there. They wrote letters. The military sounded good. I liked the benefits, the clearly-defined path to advancement, the early retirement. The requisite career choices for "smart people": Engineering, Medical School, Law School. I considered the ministry, and thought about diving into government and politics. Or maybe, learn a skill like piano-tuning, and build it up into a practice. Any one of these had promise. They each could virtually guarantee that I would not want. And I would arrive with the resources to do a lot of good in the world. But I wanted to "change the world."As a post-Watergate