Vocation

When someone asks you, "What to you want to be," as referring to some career or vocation, it is really a luxury question.  Many people don't have much choice in what they do.  Think of people trying to escape poverty, insecurity, drug and gang violence.  Think of refugees. They are into survival, not vocation discernment.  Men who come to the monastery to discern if they want to become monks, have other options.  Monasteries are not much interested in men who are desperate to survive.  That is not considered a good enough reason to become a monk.  Any vocation I chose out of desperation, fear, or the "solution" to my sideways life, was never my vocation.  Bu I know it has been a luxury for me to be able to choose and then choose again something different during my growing up years.  Yikes!  I am still growing up.