What do I want to be when I grow up?
Well, it’s a bit late for that, as I’m already grown up. Instead, I’ll answer the question of what I want to be when I grow old.
I want to be a friendly old man. I want to be the eccentric old guy who’s been everywhere, done everything, and has lots of exciting stories to tell. I want to have seen the world. I want to have worked in computers and in customer service; as an engineer and as a bus driver; as a systems administrator and as a bartender. I want to know all about modern technology and ancient cultures, to know the mysteries of the atom and of the Incas. I want to have in-depth knowledge of everything, and the good sense to know when to put that knowledge to use and when it’s just boring chatter. I want to have been published, and to have performed music for an audience. I want to have made a name for myself as a philosopher, and to have spent time sitting on the floor playing with toys. I want to have had my fingers in everything, and to have had fun along the way. I want to have loved, and to have been loved. I want to have raised at least one child, and at most two. I want to have, at different points in my life, owned a mansion and multiple cars and perhaps a corporate empire, and to have owned nothing, living on the street. I want to have been an ideal citizen and a wanted criminal. I want to be everyone and everything. I want to be a composite product of the human condition. I want to be humankind.
P.S.: I had better get started!