2014-09-02 – With my son Nat safely enrolled in a pre-med program and starting off with good grades, I came upon an article saying that Millennials are finding that the traditional prestige occupations are not as prestigious—or lucrative as they were for previous generations.

It’s disappointing. But hard work and a desire to ply a meaningful career is not enough these days. If you want to get ahead, you have really four choices:

• Becoming a hedge fund manager,
• Starring in a reality TV show,
• Winning the Powerball lottery, or
• Being born to super-rich parents.

Traditional occupations like doctor, lawyer, or merchant won’t get you where you want to go. Obscene wealth and fame requires traits that you don’t learn in school. Not even one school has a program to teach young people how to become born to super-rich parents. (Is that what they call being “born again”?)

Sorry, Nat.

Being a doctor used to be a high prestige occupation because it fulfills a basic human need for care giving and physicians were the folks who provided wisdom and eased desperate pain.

But it was an illusion. The careers of the future are based in reality. That’s why they call it reality TV.

It’s no longer of value to aspire to the top 10%. You need to be in the top 1% of the 1% or your life is meaningless. If you can’t be a hedge fund manager, you might as well be trimming hedges.

I’m old fashioned. So I am proud that Nat is doing this, even though it is so retro. Sometimes retro comes back into fashion.

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And maybe someday truth will come back into fashion. We’re starting with one day: October 1. It’s one day for truth called Diogenes Day. Let your friends know. Find out more info by clicking the Diogenes Day link at the top of my blog page.