What would Plato do?

In a previous post, I was speculating what Reese might be when she grows up based on her personality.

It got me thinking about what my parents thought my personality showed when I was young.

My parents said when I was a kid I said I did not want a desk job, that I wanted to be outside with people. I guess being a sports journalist fit that bill pretty well. But then my parents said something that really kind of caught me by surprise. They said I was a deep thinker, deeper than anyone else in the family.

I never thought of myself as a deep thinker. Sometimes I’m amazed at how juvenile my thoughts are, actually. But apparently I think about life, death, religion, relationships and philosophy more than my sisters or even my parents.

Are there even philosophers anymore? What would Plato and Aristotle do today? I mean, besides flip burgers? I kid, I kid.

But what can someone do with a philosophy degree? The online career section of University of Florida says “Your philosophy degree will prepare you generally for any career or position which does not presuppose a fairly high degree of technical training, of the sort which would be required to get a degree in mathematics or one of the sciences.” So, apparently, you can do anything other than be a doctor, lawyer or car mechanic (even if you read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – which really has little to do with neither Buddhism nor being a mechanic).

But there are philosophers today, people who hold a mirror up to society and force people to think about life in ways they may not have before. We don’t call them philosophers, though. We call them stand-up comedians (Mel Brooks was a “stand-up philosopher” in “History of the World Part 1”).

I always believed I was the funniest person I know, so maybe I could have been a comedian. Maybe I still can do stand-up.

But there other people today who act and think like philosophers – writers. Whether it is a novelist, a playwright, screenplay writer or columnist, writers dig deep into human relationships with the world around them.

Now that sounds like a job I could do. Wait…I already have done it and plan on continuing to do it!