On the subject of finding Fellowship, I do think that some occupations lend themselves towards increased odds; anything that fosters a "crew" dynamic with long stretches of time around the same people that force interaction if only through boredom, has group coordination/dependance built in, and, ideally, has some type of selection effect to provide at least one axis of commonality amongst members. Of course, there is no guarantee that one will end up lucking into a great crew, but I think the odds are far better in such circumstances than other more individually siloed work environments I've experienced. Here, you mentioned searching for your own Band of Brothers in the military, and I would add careers in the natural resources (forestry/wildland firefighting/trails/fisheries/wildlife/minerals/engineering) in private, state, or federal organizations as other potential paths. Of course, it might be that one only finds a few comrades to keep in touch with, even on high turnover seasonal crews, but I've found a few good friends that way.
If anyone cares to add their experiences of different occupations, let me know so I can refine my midlife crisis career switch!
Absolutely agree friendship has come massively under fire in recent years. Social media absolutely has a role but even deeper than that the economic system itself (information economy) that moves people around regularly, promotes generic homogeneous suburbs with no social bonds, and creates adversarial relationships at work as people compete for bonuses and promotions plays a major role too. Of important note this isn’t just a feature of capitalism since you could have those same features in leftist or reactionary right regimes as well. The demise of organized religion certainly also has a role.
On the subject of finding Fellowship, I do think that some occupations lend themselves towards increased odds; anything that fosters a "crew" dynamic with long stretches of time around the same people that force interaction if only through boredom, has group coordination/dependance built in, and, ideally, has some type of selection effect to provide at least one axis of commonality amongst members. Of course, there is no guarantee that one will end up lucking into a great crew, but I think the odds are far better in such circumstances than other more individually siloed work environments I've experienced. Here, you mentioned searching for your own Band of Brothers in the military, and I would add careers in the natural resources (forestry/wildland firefighting/trails/fisheries/wildlife/minerals/engineering) in private, state, or federal organizations as other potential paths. Of course, it might be that one only finds a few comrades to keep in touch with, even on high turnover seasonal crews, but I've found a few good friends that way.
If anyone cares to add their experiences of different occupations, let me know so I can refine my midlife crisis career switch!
Absolutely agree friendship has come massively under fire in recent years. Social media absolutely has a role but even deeper than that the economic system itself (information economy) that moves people around regularly, promotes generic homogeneous suburbs with no social bonds, and creates adversarial relationships at work as people compete for bonuses and promotions plays a major role too. Of important note this isn’t just a feature of capitalism since you could have those same features in leftist or reactionary right regimes as well. The demise of organized religion certainly also has a role.
Great video, and I don't want to believe that it's dead. 🤞
Not yet!
If you want friends, learn Esperanto.
https://www.ted.com/talks/esther_schor_the_transformative_vision_of_esperanto