How the heck does a person figure out what to do?

Truckin' got my chips cashed in. Keep truckin', like the do-dah man
Together, more or less in line, just keep truckin' on.

Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on Main Street.
Chicago, New York, Detroit and it's all on the same street.
Your typical city involved in a typical daydream
Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings.

Dallas, got a soft machine; Houston, too close to New Orleans;
New York's got the ways and means; but just won't let you be, oh no.

Most of the cast that you meet on the streets speak of true love,
Most of the time they're sittin' and cryin' at home.
One of these days they know they better get goin'
Out of the door and down on the streets all alone.

Truckin', like the do-dah man. Once told me "You've got to play your hand"
Sometimes your cards ain't worth a dime, if you don't lay'em down,

Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurres to me What a long, strange trip it's been.

What in the world ever became of sweet Jane?
She lost her sparkle, you know she isn't the same
Livin' on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine,
All a friend can say is "Ain't it a shame?"

Truckin', up to Buffalo. Been thinkin', you got to mellow slow
Takes time, you pick a place to go, and just keep truckin' on.

Sittin' and starin' out of the hotel window.
Got a tip they're gonna kick the door in again
I'd like to get some sleep before I travel,
But if you got a warrant, I guess you're gonna come in.

Busted, down on Bourbon Street, Set up, like a bowlin' pin.
Knocked down, it get's to wearin' thin. They just won't let you be, oh no.

You're sick of hangin' around and you'd like to travel;
Get tired of travelin' and you want to settle down.
I guess they can't revoke your soul for tryin',
Get out of the door and light out and look all around.

Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurres to me What a long, strange trip it's been.

Truckin', I'm a goin' home. Whoa whoa baby, back where I belong,
Back home, sit down and patch my bones, and get back truckin' on.
Hey now get back truckin' home.

Truckin by the Grateful Deal.

How does a young person determine what direction to go in life?  I.e., how do we expect those looking to graduate from high school to know what to do as a career?  This isn't a rhetorical question, I really have no idea.

Back when I was in high school the local schools made next to no effort to assist with this at all.  We had guidance counselors, but the guidance we received was simply not there.  Maybe it would have been if we asked, I suppose, but most 17 year old males aren't going to walk into the guidance office and ask.  I know that I didn't.

I did have to go there, but only because my guidance counselor had to sign off on a paper that I'd seen him in order for me to graduate. All high school seniors had this requirement.  This presented a problem for me as it seemed that my counselor was sort of like Major Major in Catch 22, you could only see him when he wasn't in. Try as I might, I could never catch him in his office.  Finally I went into school very early in the morning and sat outside of his door until he showed up.  He did, of course, and had sort of a crestfallen look on his face to see me there. He signed off on my sheet, never asking me about my career plans.

That was pretty inadequate guidance.

Joey tried to help me find a job
A while ago
When I finally got it I didn't want to go
The party Mary gave for me
When I just walked away
Now there's nothing left for me to say

All the burning bridges that have fallen after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore

Years have passed and I keep thinking
What a fool I've been
I look back into the past and
Think of way back then
I know that I lost everything I thought that I could win
I guess I should have listened to my friends

All the burning bridges that have fallen after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore

Burning Bridges by Mike Curb

Maybe it wouldn't have made any difference.  I had some ideas of what I thought I wanted to do at the time, and perhaps guidance would only have brought that out and I would have headed down the same road, which at that time was into an undergraduate course of study in geology, something that I had a natural talent for and which my mother encouraged me in.  They did test us for aptitude, and I recall my test suggested that I might make a good game warden, a career I also considered but which my father counseled me against, given the stiff competition in this region for those jobs.   Given my thin attention to school at the time, he would have been justified in thinking that I wouldn't give sufficient attention to my grades, although that turned out to be in error.  Once in college, I really became a student.

Anyhow, do they do better now?  I hope so.  Looking out at young people, I feel for them in this area.  People push them in one direction or another, and I sometimes wonder if anyone ever helps them figure out what they can do, would be good at, and what they want to do.  Age 18 is pretty young to really know that, but by 28, which comes pretty soon, you probably ought to have a pretty good idea and be well on your way.

One night while I was out a ridin'
The grave yard shift, midnight 'til dawn
The moon was bright as a readin' light
For a letter from an old friend back home

And he asked me
Why do you ride for your money
Tell me why do you rope for short pay
You ain't a'gettin' nowhere
And you're loosin' your share
Boy, you must have gone crazy out there

He said last night I ran on to Jenny
She's married and has a good life
And boy you sure missed the track
When you never come back
She's the perfect professional's wife

And she asked me
Why does he ride for his money
And tell me why does he rope for short pay
He ain't a'gettin' nowhere
And he's loosin' his share
Boy he must've gone crazy out there

Ah but they've never seen the Northern Lights
They've never seen a hawk on the wing
They've never spent spring on the Great Divide
And they've never heard ole' camp cookie sing

Well I read up the last of my letter
And I tore off the stamp for black Jim
And when Billy rode up to relieve me
He just looked at my letter and grinned

He said now
Why do they ride for their money
Tell me why do they ride for short pay
They ain't a'gettin' nowhere
And they're loosin' their share
Boy, they must've gone crazy out there
Son, they all must be crazy out there 

Night Riders Lament by Jerry Jeff Walker.

Of course, some people just seem to know what they want to do from an early age, something I've always been amazed by.  They'll form an early idea of what they want to do, and pursue it. 

Non, Rien de rien
Non, Je ne regrette rien

Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait
Ni le mal tout ça m'est bien égal

Non, Rien de rien
Non, Je ne regrette rie

C'est payé, balayé, oublié
Je me fous du passé 

Avec mes souvenirs
J'ai allumé le feu

Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs
Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux

Balayés les amours

Avec leurs trémolos

Balayés pour toujours
Je repars à zéro

Non, Rien de rien
Non, Je ne regrette rien

Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait
Ni le mal tout ça m'est bien égal

Non, Rien de rien
Non, Je ne regrette rien

Car ma vie, car mes joies
Aujourd'hui, ça commence avec toi

Je Ne Regrette Rien by Edith Piaf (I Regret Nothing).

Others seem to fall into jobs, however.  Some of them find their early goals can't be met, or perhaps they lose interest in the pursuit of the original goal, or decide it isn't worth it.  Some of those fall into one thing or another and like that alternative.  Others just fall into something.

I'm not suggesting, I'll note, that nothing is done now.  I just don't know what it is.  I have a son in high school and they do seem to have more recruiters and job fair type things when I was there.  Perhaps a lot more is going on than I suppose. 

But it's heavy burden, and I feel for those involved in it.