Walter Son, I feel like talking to you tonight.

Travis About what?

Walter Oh, about a lot of things. About you and what kind of man you going to be when you grown up . . . Son–son, what do you want to be when you grown up?

Travis A bus driver.

Walter (laughing a little) A what? Man, that ain’t nothing to want to be!

Travis Why not?

Walter ‘Cause, man–it ain’t big enough–you know what I mean?

Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

The character of Travis in A Raisin in the Sun does not hesitate when his dad asks him what he wants to be. He has an answer and a definite one. “A bus driver,” he says. This response is genuine and comes from a place of purity within himself. He knows exactly what job he wants. Something about the life of a bus driver dazzles him. But–that answer is not grand enough for Walter Lee.

Choosing a career

If you’ve ever found yourself contemplating a career change or direction, you may have consulted a life coach or read an article about the steps to making a logical choice. Typical advice includes identifying your strengths and understanding the work/life balance you’re trying to achieve. A recommendation that speaks to me is to think back to what you enjoyed doing when you were a kid. More specifically, consider what you wanted to be when you were ten years old. Since Travis is this age, his response gives us an example of that childhood mindset. Whatever job you thought was glamorous when you were ten was based on one thing–what you genuinely thought could be fulfilling–every single day. That’s pretty valuable information.

Didn’t you know?

Have you ever experienced this scenario? You’re moving along in your life and out of nowhere someone tells you that you’re missing some “thing”? And, that thing is the total opposite of anything you’d ever wanted, needed, or even considered doing. All of a sudden your vision for your life, finances, home, or career seems frivolous, unprofitable, or insufficient. Or—you just get so confused that you can’t make any decisions.

Travis: I don’t know then. I can’t make up my mind.

A Raisin in the Sun

Young Travis was perfectly content hoping that one day he’d grow up to be a bus driver–until he was told that he shouldn’t want that. Once he hears his father’s words, he starts second-guessing himself.

Self-confidence

Walter Lee doesn’t realize that telling Travis that his career choice is not worthy of him has begun to chisel away at his son’s self-confidence. According to Psychology Today, confidence “is a belief in oneself, the conviction that one has the ability to meet life’s challenges and to succeed—and the willingness to act accordingly.” ¹ Children, especially, will begin to doubt themselves if the responses they get from other people are continuously negative or discouraging. They stop believing in their own desires or dreams. They may make choices for their future based on what is deemed safe or viewed as more prestigious. Worst of all, a little boy growing up in Chicago will never get to pilot a commuter bus.

Be the Bus Driver

There have been many times in my life when “well-meaning” people revealed to me that I was lacking something. These were shocking and disheartening moments that influenced my decisions about what to study in college, where I should live, and even how I dressed. You may have experienced something similar. Remembering Travis’s plight in this play can help you when your self-confidence has been shaken by the disparaging words of others. It’s up to you to determine the information’s validity and what you will do with it.

• Start by assessing what you’ve been told, and more importantly, by whom.

Like Walter Lee, a person may be speaking from his own feelings of lack and being told that he shouldn’t want more than he has. So, make sure to analyze that person’s motivations.

• Go back to what you know about who you are and who you have always been.

What did you want to be when you were a kid? Try to remember how it felt imagining that you were it.

If you have the soul of a bus driver, you will not be happy until you’ve gotten behind that big steering wheel. Embrace who you are despite what anyone else tells you.

Be the bus driver, Travis. It’s your life, not your dad’s.