DrakeNews #134 August 4, 2023
Dear People:
One of the things a father is likely to think about is what field of work should my child go into? My answer was ‘whatever he pleases.’ I didn’t advise my son Jonathan. If he had obvious mathematical ability, I’d probably have said IT. But the only thing he seemed interested in was athletics which I knew nothing about and didn’t find interesting. When he told me he wanted a degree in sports medicine and wanted to stay in school another year to get education courses, I said I’d pay for it but I wasn’t thrilled that he hadn’t thought of this sooner.
So, he got his degree and a job teaching physical education to kindergartners. He liked teaching, but he and the janitor were the only males on the faculty. This got old pretty quickly and he quit to become a freelance personal trainer. I thought this was a very bad idea but the gym he was working at pretty quickly hired him as manager. Another gym in town was rumored to be getting a franchise as a Gold’s Gym. Jonathan researched what it would take to bring the place he was working at up to Gold’s standards. He came up with an answer that the owners thought was doable. They went out to Venice beach where Jonathan met with the guy in charge of franchising for Gold’s and got the franchise. After they completed the improvements, Jonathan was manager of a Gold’s Gym. When the owners divorced, he was out of a job again.
He volunteered for a friend repairing computers and then got a fulltime job testing them with my friend. It was always a good bet for someone with that aptitude. He is working in the field now. Red Hat– another firm in the area–recently sold for 238 billion dollars which means quite a payout for somebody. Jonathan isn’t expecting anything like that in the future–but he’s made out well through many changes and will probably do well the next time also. Sports medicine wasn’t a great field for him but learning to deal with life for himself was.
Also, he’s one of the strongest men you’re ever going to meet.
Dave Drake
Chatham County, NC
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