Thoughts on Work

For the first few weeks of my summer job, I thought that I would truly enjoy working at the U.S. attorneys office somewhere down the road. I have lately come to the conclusion that I probably will not. See, I suffer from a unhealthy sense of paranoia. As this summer has progressed I have felt pleased that I am working to put the bad guys in prison for a long time. I feel like I am helping society and that the world is a better place for the work that I do. But when I come home from work I drive down the street and I look at people and I start to wonder. Does my neighbor have a meth lab in his basement, are the guys working on my house terrorists, is the waiter at the restaurant looking to steal an identity? Intellectually I believe that most people are not going to actively take steps to screw over someone else. But I have first hand experience that those people are out there. And with the exception of meth addicts who are still using, they look just like normal people for the most part. So I am starting to believe that my own belief in the goodness of people wont survive working with or against the criminal element for extended periods of time. The good news is that this is just a summer job, and now I know.