"But I suppose you've never complained about anything in your entire life. You just accept what you're given, because no one is forcing you to do it."
No, I lived my advice. When I was in high school, I took a sober look at my "dream job" of somehow composing music professionally, realized my talents and skills didn't put me in the requisite top .001% or so to make a decent living at, and switched to something that still brings me great satisfaction, while also letting me make a living. Everything about the subsequent 20 years has convinced me that was a great decision.
The problem with your post is that while you're collecting the emotional feel-goodz of saying something you think virtuous and enjoying the brief frisson of attacking me for saying the badthink, you're offloading the costs of that rather brief and fleeting pleasure onto the Olympic athletes and their significant privations so you can say that. I find it morally abhorrent for people to take brief pleasure in saying things and feeling morally good about it at the cost of other people having to pay the costs of living good chunks of their life in poverty. (See also advocating college while sneering at the idea that one should obtain a marketable skill from it.)
Stop idolizing the Olympics, and people will stop sacrificing their lives to it.
And think about what you're really asking people to do before spouting mindless rah-rah "Follow your dreams!" stuff. It's not consequence-free.
Trust me when I say this, I do not idolize the Olympics, in fact I hate everything about sports in general. I'm looking at this purely as an outsider, and what should be a reasonable compensation for any line of work. Yes, this IS a job for these people.
That's fine that you didn't even attempt to pursue your dreams, but these people ARE the top .001% who made it, and they still DO NOT make a decent living at it. That's the point.
The fact is: roaches get baited, mouses get trapped. Try not to be a cockroach is what jerf is saying. Follow your dreams are fine but dont be a cockroach for someone else's Olympic bug park. Unfortunately these kids are their own worst enemies. Like you mentioned, no union, no bargaining. Just a lot of expendable roaches that are unfortunately ruining it for eachother and competing in sports games with eachother, ironic.
I don't think it's fair to expect most high schoolers to be as clear headed as you were. Many Olympic athletes train since they are kids, before they even know what .001% means.
No, I lived my advice. When I was in high school, I took a sober look at my "dream job" of somehow composing music professionally, realized my talents and skills didn't put me in the requisite top .001% or so to make a decent living at, and switched to something that still brings me great satisfaction, while also letting me make a living. Everything about the subsequent 20 years has convinced me that was a great decision.
The problem with your post is that while you're collecting the emotional feel-goodz of saying something you think virtuous and enjoying the brief frisson of attacking me for saying the badthink, you're offloading the costs of that rather brief and fleeting pleasure onto the Olympic athletes and their significant privations so you can say that. I find it morally abhorrent for people to take brief pleasure in saying things and feeling morally good about it at the cost of other people having to pay the costs of living good chunks of their life in poverty. (See also advocating college while sneering at the idea that one should obtain a marketable skill from it.)
Stop idolizing the Olympics, and people will stop sacrificing their lives to it.
And think about what you're really asking people to do before spouting mindless rah-rah "Follow your dreams!" stuff. It's not consequence-free.