The Importance of the Choice of a Profession or Business

.

Vol. I. MARCH, 1898. No. 5.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CHOICE OF A PROFESSION OR BUSINESS, BY E. BENJ. ANDREWS.

[In the Cosmopolitan for February is an interesting article on the im- portance of the choice of a profession or business, written by E. Benjamin Andrews. It is the first of a series that is to appear in that magazine under the general title, "The Selection of One's Life-work." The subject is one of such importance, and so especially concerns a large class of the Era's readers, that we reproduce in part the excellent article of Mr. Andrews]

The selection of the field in which one's life-work is to be done is a momentous act. A wise choice in the matter is in itself a fortune;an error in it can hardly ever be recalled, and nearly always involves losses and pain for which no good fortune afterwards can make amends. In about every com- munity one meets victims of ill guidance in this all-important matter; men who, at the critical point in the journey of life, took the wrong road. Some of them succumb quickly and die. Others wander aimlessly and hopelessly about, hardly attempting to advance. Many another bravely struggles on, only to find, when all his strength is wasted, that the path is too rough, crooked or long for him, or that it traverses coun- try which he is constitutionally unable to love. Is it not inex- pressibly sad that thousands of human lives should be ren-

26

dered useless and unhappy in these ways? Cannot some- thing be done to abate the evil? At first glance it is surprising that comparatively little has been written on a subject so important. The explanation probably is that the choice of a life-role constitutes in each instance a highly personal affair, in which it seems folly for any but the man himself to take part. And, certainly, the choice must finally be made by each for himself. Outside ad- vice or hints, the best saws of sages or philosophers, can never, in this weighty business, take a place of our own in- sight, discretion and will. Yet few solve the problem of a life-calling wholly without counsel. Consciously or otherwise we are, in our decision, helped by what we know of others' decisions. Reflections on the subject by students of human nature seeking to ascertain the causes of success and of failure in life, greatly aid many. It is believed that helpful direction of this kind may be ex- tended further than it has yet been. There may also usefully be given some account of the special advantages and disad- vantages of each several profession or calling, the rewards and amenities to be hoped for in it and the temptations, hard- ships and other infelicities which its devotees must brave. The present paper merely introduces the discussion of these topics, on which other writers, specialists, will enlarge. Certain favored spirits are never under the necessity of choosing their path in life. Most geniuses are such. They are foreordained to this or that mission and somehow become aware of it in good time. From his earliest boyhood Robert E. Lee, like young Hannibal of old, felt called to the profes- sion of arms. Before he was ten Thorwaldsen carved beauti- fully in wood, excelling his father, whose trade it was, and evoking from many observant ones the prophecy that the lad would make a great sculptor. Probably no artist ever be- comes famous who is not moved in the direction of his destiny quite early. And many a man neither a genius nor an artist is so obviously fitted for some particular occupation that he

need never worry or even deliberate over the question in what field he shall earn his bread. All these cases, however, are exceptional; the majority of human beings are not so fortunate.

CHOICE OF PROFESSION. 307

A man may be far from sure what business he ought to adopt, yet really have a pronounced aptitude in some special direction. In such a case the proper precept is.- Follow your bent. If the subject possesses various species of ability but is peculiarly brilliant in some one, this his main forte is the thing to give him his cue. Highly versatile people, mentally alert, interested in all the departments of science and of fact, and having considerable but nearly equal powers in various ways, are in much danger of vacillation between two or more forms of endeavor, dawdling awhile over each, till all their richness of faculty is spent and success impossible. The man preaches, we will say, till some reverse overtakes him in that work. Cast down, and aware that he can teach, instead of redoub- ling his efforts to succeed in the activity first chosen, he throws it up and crosses over, a beginner, to the schoolroom. Sooner or later he becomes discouraged here as well. Hav- ing once yielded to depression he probably falls prey to it again, now exchanging the school for the law-office. How many potentially invaluable lives are wasted in such fatal meandering! Your dull fellow, lacking all special mental interest and without any sense of function or of power, may quite possibly turn out much better than that. If, somehow, he once gets

launched in a given enterprise, being single-minded and free from distraction, he is likely to develop triumphant concen- tration of attention and energy. But how is he to make the start? Perhaps arbitrarily, by a sort of flop, lunging for the first opportunity to work. Splendid results often wait upon such a choice. Better, however, go by friends' advice. President Francis Wayland used strongly to insist that a man's friends are often if not always better judges of his qualification for a given career than the man himself. Only, when he puts his hand to the craft picked out for him — this, too, formed part of Wayland's philosophy — he must determine to succeed and hence work like a demon. Interest in the undertaking, even devotion, will then come.

[Mr. Andrews then proceeds to discuss the importance and advantages of the ministry as a profession; but as that can never be regarded as a pro- fession to be followed for gain by the young men of the Church of Jesus Christ

.

of Latter-day Saints, we may pass that by; as also, for want of space, what he says of law, medicine, pedagogy, and journalism as occupations in life; because we want to present what he says of engineering and politics as pro- fessions. What he says of the first will be interesting because he regards it as one of the professions not at present crowded; and what he says of the

second will be interesting because in the east it has been seldom regarded as a profession]

If there is a profession which more safely than any other

can be recommended as peculiarly enticing in itself, vastly and directly useful to mankind, and not as yet overcrowded, it is engineering in its various phases and branches civil, — chemical, mechanical, electrical, mining, sanitary, hydraulic. Engineer's work, the subjection of man's material environ- ment to man's service, is only well begun. It must and will go on, and it will go far very soon. Probably no man living has more than the faintest fore-gleam of the development which even the next fifty years have in store for this feature of our present civilization. The force working here will have to be vastly enlarged. Only, be it observed, numbers are here as elsewhere of much less consequence than quality. If

thorough preparation for one's profession is always important, as is certainly true, it is specially vital to success in engineer- ing, where so much depends on exact knowledge where — mathematics and acquaintance with physical laws figure so conspicuously. Besides being in a high degree both useful and intellectual, engineering is a form of activity in which, if you are thoroughly qualified for it and unremittingly indus- trious, excellent remuneration may be expected, and that without resort to doubtful devices. At the risk of offending some readers and surprising more, we venture, lastly, to speak of politics as in itself a highly desirable profession. Good citizens who are so sit- uated that they can compete for public office ought to be en- couraged to do so. No more useful career is possible in this age than is presented by politics conscientiously prepared for and pursued. The common thought that it is mean to seek office or to accept an office unless it has sought the man, is wholly perverse. We need that hosts of thoroughly able and moral young men, well trained in political and social science, including ethics, should set politics before themselves as their

.

CHOICE OP PROFESSION. 309

life-work. Do not sneer at professional politics if only it is of the right kind. Politics ought to be a profession. Rightly followed, it would be a noble one. To be a public servant after this fashion would require extraordinary grace. To succeed, one must religiously cul- tivate the hard side of his nature, nerve to face wicked men, kindly to endure lies, libels, and the whole contradiction of the public's enemies against him, to give blows as well as take them. Where are the men who will covet political careers with this spirit, preparing for, and if possible, enter- ing public life with a determination to make it purer and

more efficient, not waiting to be asked and urged to do this, but seeking places of trust, competing with selfish schemers for chances to exert great power in the capital affairs of men?