Most of us are born with 270 bones (some people claim the number to be as high as 305), but by adulthood we have only 206 left. According to what I’ve read, the diminution in number results from bones fusing together as the child’s skeleton morphs into the bony superstructure of an adult.
If I had taken a class in human anatomy as a young man, I might know the names of all of those bones. Actually—during my pre-pubescent through mid-teen years, when I planned to become a medical doctor—I used to know the names of most human bones , even without having taken such a class .
My distinct target for an adult profession fused with others, though. I became a wannabe sociologist, later morphing into a paper-pushing administrator and then becoming a wannabe writer. Career interests at one time or another also included veterinary medicine, research criminologist, lawyer, college professor (back to sociology), parole officer, and computer software coder. Oh, botanist, but that was truly short-lived.
Is it too late for medical school? Can I still practice law? Are there any openings for opinionated philosophers in the culinary arts professions? With just a shade more knowledge of bones and bone structure, I might finesse my way into becoming a butcher’s apprentice.
