No, I Am Not A Machine!

I rarely acknowledge the comments or criticisms of anyone, let alone those of my relatives.  However, once there was a comment made about my life and 'professional achievements' that really rubbed me the wrong way!  A male relative, in speaking of the dangers of following an academic major in college that might not result in a job grossing thousands of dollars every year, related to one of his children that they should avoid certain scholarly areas of study, for fear of ending up like me.  He told that child that if they followed their heart and academic attractions for study, and supposed job/career choice, they would end up hanging around like me, working a menial part-time job, with no hope or possibility of professional or even personal growth or success in the future.

I found this assessment of my life quite hilarious because I had just only completed high-dose chemotherapy (for the second time) and undergone a bone marrow transplant just 14 months before hand and was, at the time, receiving interferon treatments for a related condition.  According to most of the doctors and medical professionals treating me, I was leading an amazingly successful life, in spite of my condition.  Also, I always found it quite pleasing that many people I met were impressed by the fact that I'd undergone cancer treatment in a foreign country, alone, while working and finding remarkable success as a teacher in a foreign country and all the while completing several academic and professional training courses and obtained a few professional and amateur distinctions in linguistic abilities and knowledge in three foreign languages.

But, I wasn't living up the status quo of those who couldn't obtain an eighth of what I already had by the time I was 28 because I didn't have a job with a 401K plan and was only limited to 10 annually cumulative days of vacation time (yet another criticism made by yet another relative, who after me completing a successful semester teaching on the post-graduate level at a college in one of the many places the average American couldn't imagine visiting, let alone working and living in, had returned home for a 4-week vacation).

So, let those detractors detract and label me as a failure and the ever-present example of so many things not to be when their children grow up.  I like the fact that I could run 5K a few weeks after completing high-dose chemotherapy when they have never even come close to finishing a K.  Thanks for all the inspirational hate, y'all!