I’m posting this photo in the culture and environment section to let everyone know that this is the only job I really wanted to do.  I spent three seasons as an Interpretative Park Ranger with the National Park Service.  I was at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in 2001 and spent two seasons, 2008 and 2009, where this photo was taken at Jewel Cave National Monument.  I never was able to pursue this as a career.  There always seemed to be to many life events in the way when I wanted to follow this path.  It is a very difficult one to follow.  The pay is low, you have pay your dues for years it seems to be offered a permanent job, and there’s a lot of competition.

It is also due to a lack of funding our nations resources and infrastructure.  My fathers’ generation created the longest and most sustained growth of the middle class.  The middle class pays the taxes that fund the infrastructure, our national parks, our military.  We keep increasing funding of the military but everything else gets chopped.  Paying taxes is an investment into ourselves.  When my generation became adults was the beginning of the downfall of the middle class.

I’ve had to struggle much harder to provide for my family even though I am a fairly highly educated person.  My father had a government job his whole life.  We were never rich but had our needs met.  He could have gone into private industry and made millions but didn’t feel it was the right or honorable thing to do.  My mother didn’t have to work even though she did when the children got older.  She was able to devote time to seeing that we ate well and could experience extracurricular activities like sports and choir.  I could pay for my bachelor’s and graduate degrees working construction and bartending, even though I screwed up at first and had to take a little longer time to finish.

It’s going to be even harder for my kids.

Here’s a link to my wild caving tour video at Jewel Cave National Monument.  I just checked and it’s still up.

https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=2A09A3F4-A53C-B096-FE9D7EA57525BDB7