A deep sense of meaning…
 

Do you find it in your flying job? If not, where do you go and/or what do you do to get a feeling of purpose and meaning? (If it’s something you care about, of course)

Flying is fun but the more I do it, the less I think it ticks this box for me.

Certain flights more then others, we fly a lot of rubber dogsh!t out of HongKong.
Those flights are 6 of one or half a dozen of another.
Flying PPE’s during the early days of ‘Rona were more meaningful. Same with relief flights, AMC charters and flying in support of the various squabbles in the world.
Flying an Afghan relief flight touched me deeply.
I’m privileged flying ACMI so I don’t have to do BUR or EWR 3-4 times a day.

Hell to the no. 121 flying is just a paycheck to me. I enjoy it for the most part, but if I never flew another airplane again I would not care in the least.

You gotta find meaning outside of work, otherwise you'll die the day after you retire.

Flying pax safely to important life events does matter a bit to me, I have enough of a technical background to not just take it all for granted. I've had a few emergencies over the years, and all ended well so I can take some satisfaction in that.

But for real fulfillment, yeah probably need another outlet. But you have money and time off... don't need to spend all of that on boats and 'hos.

Altruism is the gift of youth and fools. We're all mercenaries. Act accordingly.

….and the winner is:

Bravo.

I think you might be conflating altruism with meaning. You don’t have to be selfless (or even make a sacrifice) to make a positive difference in the world. There are plenty of careers that are very well-compensated and much more directly benefit the lives of other people.

Sure, for some people (such as mercenaries), money is all that matters, but I personally feel that would be a pretty empty existence. To each their own.

FWIW, I am struggling to find a sense of meaning that comes with my work as a pilot, hence why I posted this thread.

You draw a wage? You're a mercenary. Would you be at work, doing your job, without any renumeration? No? You're a mercenary.

Feel good about your job? That's nice.

You got paid. You do your job because you get paid. it's not a hobby. It's a living. You're a mercenary.

Own it.

It's a technical trade with some irreplaceable applications. When you consider the combined resources of what is takes to put things in motion, impressively complicated on a large scale. Driving home past a week's flogging, only human to feel like an escort. Elite compensation for multiple thousand certificate holders these days. Laughable to hear contract cheerleaders label it brotherhood. But that's their privilege. Whether taking out trash bags or signing a logbook, you supply the meaning. Just don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy.

Well, I appreciate you self-reporting as a complete sellout (in your own unflattering words, a “mercenary”) who cares about nothing other than compensation, but not everyone who works to earn their living feels the same way as you do. If you truly think that just because you work to earn a living, that you are a mercenary, then you don’t understand what a mercenary is. Sounds like you just wanted to chime in with some tough talk 🙄