Dream Job

Last October I was offered two jobs. Now this had never happened to me before so I struggled a bit to make a decision. Ultimately I went with the one that was offered me first. It paid slightly more and was more stable.

The one I turned down was an international job. I would have been flying to West Africa every month to help conduct trainings with police officers who would be supporting peace operations in the region. When I was a bit younger I would have jumped at such a job. Meeting people from other cultures, practicing my French, working for more peaceful societies, making use of my degree in Peace Studies, would have only been some of the many positives this job would have offered me. However I balked at the idea of living out of suitcases and at this time was starting to realize that flying everywhere was not a responsible practice.

The other job was a bit of a gamble. It was only a three month contract with the potential for extension; thankfully my contract has been extended since. My job is almost as hopeless as peacebuilding: convincing Hamiltonians to embrace sustainable transportation. Compared to the other job's reliance on air travel, I would be settled and be able to take public transit and ride my bike year round without feeling guilty. I would be working for a better city and maybe world given the relationship between transportation and climate change. And it would be a new experience working in the environmental field (though please don't label me an environmentalist).

Maybe there are no dream jobs. Some seem attractive on the surface but lose their lustre on closer inspection. I think what I've realized is that there's a hell of a lot of work to be done at home that is just as important as jetting around the world promoting peace.