Greener pasture?

Reader question:

In this passage – I am 35 years of age. I've been working in the IT business since 2002 and currently looking for a greener pasture. I have a good command in English and have good interpersonal skills...– what does "greener pasture" mean?

My comments:

"Greener pasture" means a better job. What the person says is that he's ready to jump ship – and apparently not for the first time judging from the fact that he's 35 and had been in the info-tech business for five years. Presumably he had been at a different job or different jobs prior to that, when he was in his 20s.

Anyways, green pasture is a fertile piece of grassland for cattle and other herbivores to graze. If you have watched a Discovery Channel DVD documenting the massive migrations taking place over the Serengeti, the African savanna that lies over Tanzania and Kenya, you will have no problem understanding the animal urge for greener pastures.

Following the rain, tens of thousands of zebras, gazelles and other herbivores embark on the annual long march towards greener (fresher) grasslands where they mate, give births and regenerate.

The greener pasture is always far out there, but for herbivores, fresh and abundant plants are worth the effort, even though the journeys to wade are demanding and dangerous (crocodiles and carnivores lurk in wait).

Humans change jobs for similar reasons. Unlike animals, humans are metaphysical (at least some of them are, I'm sure). That's why humans sometimes need a change in attitude more than just a change of scenery.

An ancient parable tells of a miner who was granted the ability to have his wishes come true. First of all, he was tired of mining, of the way he had to hammer at rocks all day and of the way he got yelled at by the boss. He therefore wished to be a king who neither has to work nor get yelled at. This worked, for a time. Soon, the miner-turned king grew tired of the good life he had, because he still had to bear the burning sun high above in the sky. He wished he were the sun, burning others without getting burned itself. Again, he got his wish and became the sun. This worked for a time, till one day he observed that the sun could be blocked by a cloud. So he became the cloud, only to find the wind had greater power because it could blow clouds away. He became the wind. Then he found that the wind were powerless in front of tall mountains.

So he became a miner again, chipping away at the mountains. He ended up where he began, this time more steadfast and less dissatisfied with his life.

For me, the moral of this story is that the greener pasture is you. The search from without is often futile because the answers lie within.

If you're qualified and competent, able and creative, you'll perhaps have found your green pastures by now. And I'm not talking about the pay check alone. Let's face it, y'all are not going to get your work's worth in pay – If you were, there'd be nothing left for the employers. If you have to look in a new direction, why not look to be an employer yourself, rather than to be another employee – to toil and get yelled at in another place?

Indeed, why not become an employer instead. People who change jobs a lot seldom realize a fundamental difference between an employer and an employee. The difference is this: The better an employee does his job, the more the employer makes in money and profit. This is because the employee's wages (bonuses and benefits included) are, relatively speaking, a fixed sum. As Robert Kiyosaki succinctly sums up, the employee works for money while the employer has money work for him.

Change jobs and find greener pastures if you have to. By all means do that, so long as you realize this: you yourself should be the best employer of your talents and creativity. Don't always surrender that position to other people.

Or the greener pastures of today will turn out to be not so green, again and again.