[Rockhounds] It's Aaron

[jb]

Shawn Hendricks wrote:
> Hi group,
> It's me Aaron. My mom Shawn signed us up for this group. I am going to be a geologist, gemologist, paleantologist, or something like that when I grow up. I have a big question, when and how did you become interested in geology and what do you do now that you are grown? I want to see what interesting fields I could get into in the future and what I should prepare for. Also, I do think that whatever I do, digging would have to be a major part of it. Do you have aanything really important that you learned, or some advice that has stuck with you through your years? Anyone wanting to answer please do. I use these emails and such as part of my Language Arts for homeschool as well as my geology study. My mom helps me type cause I'm so slow at it so it may take a bit for me to get back. Thanks
> Aaron Hendricks
>
>   
Aaron,

I can't remember when I first thought about the sciences. I think it was 
probably when I first looked around and asked "Why?".

As a kid I was interested in the usual: chemistry, astronomy, geology, 
stamp collecting, biology, history... I think I learned something from 
thinking about or doing all of them.  I read everything I could get my 
hands on -- especially if it was related to something that interested 
me. We didn't travel a whole lot because of one circumstance or another, 
but every place I went was an opportunity to look, and see, and ask "How 
did this place get to be the way it is?" And I had my share of accidents 
and hard experience, chemical and otherwise. (It really is fun blowing 
some things up!)

I went on to degrees in chemical engineering, language, and musicology. 
I taught in college. I spent a lot of time taking care of industrial 
processes and computer control. I also did some retail sales management, 
which I didn't care for, but it took me places I might not of otherwise 
gone. And I got to know a lot about cars by managing a service 
department. If I were to have another career, it would be as a field 
geologist.

If you really are interested in geology, the bedrock, the foundation of 
the whole, is the open field. Travel. Study the rocks as they are and 
try to decipher the meaning of  what you are seeing, of historical and 
geological time. Pretty soon you will do it everywhere you go. Someday 
you may do it formally. But that way of looking will never leave you. If 
you don't have it, you will probably wander into something else. And 
that's ok too. I doubt that very many of us end up where we thought we 
would be when starting out.

So, go for it. Do a little bit of everything. Ask anyone who might know 
something to share what they know. Don't be afraid to ask ANY question; 
it is the simplest answers that form the foundation for the 
sophisticated ones. We have to understand them first.

And remember this. You may meet several hundred people with degrees 
before you meet the one who really understands what it is he or she is 
talking about. So don't be too impressed with credentials. Or authority. 
Always look for yourself and see if what you are being told is real or 
only a half-baked kind of wishful thinking. Respect the people who tell 
you the truth and honor that above all. It really does make a difference.

Good luck. The nice thing about being 10 years old is that you really 
can become anything you want to, and probably repeat it with something 
else two or three times before you are through. Been there. Done that. 
Had a pretty good time at it too. You will also.


john