Bill Dunigan

Today everyone is looking for that special job that will suit their exact needs. In this day and age we all have circumstances, situations, obligations, etc. that make demands on our time and energy. In most cases students will get a job that will give them enough money to pay for fuel for their car and a few nights out, assuming they even have a night off.

Why should any student who is studying hard and working hard, and building up a huge debt in process, spend what little available time they have left slaving away for someone else with minimal payback? The answer is simple. That's way it has always been. Employers know that they can get cheap labor that can add and subtract, converse if necessary, sell, stock, clean, and on and on for very little pay or benefits. This is because jobs that pay more and offer more are only available to someone they think will stay with them for a while and not be a transient for just a few months.

However, today there is a way around this dilemma faced by thousands of students everywhere. It really is possible to make money they need, have time to study, develop a social life, and at same time build something for their future. That last one is something they can't even begin to think about in their current job situations.

As a Boy Scout leader, one skill we teach our scouts is starting and feeding a fire. It’s a pretty simple recipe – tinder, kindling, fuel and a catalyst to get fire started. Tinder has two parts – something easily flammable like cotton, dryer lint or shredded paper and sticks size of pencil lead. Kindling is a little bigger wood – a finger-sized to thumb-sized stick. Fuel is a large chunk of wood. A catalyst is a match or lighter.

You’ve got to lay parts together in a specific way to be successful in getting fire started. You put tinder down first. You lay cotton, lint or paper down first and gently lay pencil-lead sticks on top. Touch your match or lighter to bottom of tinder and watch fire grow. As tinder blazes brightly, add a few pieces of kindling on it. Continue adding kindling until it’s burning hotly. Then add a piece or two of fuel, and when initial fuel logs are burning strongly, add more fuel.

Once your fire is burning, it needs air and more fuel to continue burning brightly and hotly. If you don’t tend to your fire’s needs, it will cool off and go out.

Just as a fire can dwindle if it’s not tended, you passion can dwindle too if it’s not tended. You may listen to your parents, family or friends who talk you out of a career that won’t pay enough money or provide you enough security. You grow numb about what inspires you by buying things, getting in debt and having to work just to pay your bills – you know, “I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go.” Or you eat or drink too much or take drugs to take edge off emptiness you feel for not doing what you love. It’s like starting tinder but not putting any kindling or fuel on it.