November 24, 2009

Question

After watching the supremely depressing finale of Jon & Kate Plus 8 last night* - (Jon = beer-bellied assface who is clearly bitter and snaps unnecessarily at his adorably adorable kids. Kate = was always bitchy to Jon, but I'm sorry, she has EIGHT CHILDREN and runs a tight ship - I'll cut her some slack) - I started thinking....
In earlier episodes this couple seemed so happy together. So in love with their family. Then the success of their TV show helped in pushing them to the brink of Crazytown.
So I was thinking....
Would you rather
work in a dull, boring, not-supremely-satisfying, "I-get-by-and-make-a-living" kind of job, but be very happily married
or
be renowned and respected in your chosen field (prima ballerina, award-winning scientist, famous talk show host**) and live a fulfilling and exciting professional life, but eventually experience a painful and dramatic divorce
*I stopped watching when all of the drama started, but figured I had to get some closure...
**Ahem. Kate Gosselin?

5 comments:

dee said...

Definitely door #1. I couldn't care less if I ever worked again as long as I was happy! I never understand when celebs end their relationships because they want to focus on their careers. I also don't understand why I am so enthralled with said celebs' lives, but it's a guilty pleasure!

Everyday Adventures said...

I would choose option 1 as well!!

Carol said...

I don't think the two have to be mutually exclusive - the energy you get from your personal and professional life should feed off of each other. At the same time, career and job aren't necessarily synonymous. A dull boring unsatisfying job is not a career unless you want it to be, if you don't love it, it's ultimately only a way to make money. Your career should be elsewhere and in something you love even if it makes no money. See: Julia and Julia. I don't love medical school, but I love chocolate cake.

alix said...

I'm like you, stopped watching but tuned in for the finale—and Jon was so gross, I could barely stand to watch him. So obvious that without Kate he has no clue how to manage all those kids.

You raise a sticky/tricky question—the first option seems to be the kindest option. But if your job is REALLY TRULY awful and you feel like you are trapped in a really boring, dull day-to-day existence, I think it wears on your spirit and would eventually affect your marriage.

The question is even stickier for someone like Jon & Kate. I think it's easy for we onlookers to say the show was what caused the demise of their marriage, and that they should have stuck with being anonymous but happy. But with that many kids and in this economy I can't help but think without the show they would have REALLY struggled, esp once the kids hit toddler-dom (they were babies when the show started, and as tough as it is, there is alot less wranglin'). Feeding 8 kids, clothing them....having to get REALLY creative with vacations (if you even get one), never being able to afford to fly anywhere...I suspect they would have hit a rocky patch sooner or later (just because Jon is showing his true colors and its clear Kate, annoying as she was, would have had to tote the major load).
Argh. It was super depressing!!! I had hit a point where Kate was really bugging me and now I am totally on her side....Jon is such a gross Ed Hardy wearing douche bag. It is mind blowing!

Great quesion/post!

Meg said...

The first. Sometimes it's hard to remember (for me to remember) that life success is different from work success and life success in infinitely more valuable. Because that's what makes us happy.