Believe it or not, ambition is not a universal characteristic. The desire to reach beyond one’s current status seems to be lacking in a large portion of the population. For the majority of the people I come in contact with, ambition is doesn’t come in spades. In fact, I feel quite alone sometimes when I speak of what I want to do with my life. When I asked several of my friends what they want to do with themselves after college, I received a number of discouraging responses.

“Housewife”
“Well I’m not good at college, so something that doesn’t require a lot of work.”
“I’m not sure yet, I guess I’ll figure it out when I figure it out.”
“I want to find a husband.”

Ouch. Even in the world of part-time college kids this kind of response is disheartening. Admittedly, my job is not of vast importance in the grand scheme of things, but I take it seriously, and in the process, I want for nothing more to be recognized for the work I do and be promoted. It’s not that I want to continue in this job forever, but I do want to be as high as I can go in the time I’m here. I have ambition. I know I do. I also want people in my life that have as much as I do. Somewhere in the laziness of my generation, ambition has turned into a bad word.