What is to come of our parks?

As I make my journey through college, choosing a correct career choice as been a struggle for me. There are many things I have to consider, such as my wants and desires, how much money I want to make, or what jobs am I willing to do. After much evaluation of myself I have found that I enjoy the outdoors and want to help other enjoy the outdoors as well. To do so I desire to become a park ranger.
Although a career as a park ranger may be a good choice for my wants and desires, I can’t help but think about the future of that career. In our modern society, the common source of leisure is no longer found in our protected parks, or even in the outdoors for that matter. Electronics are now the leading source of entertainment during leisure time. Instead of budgeting for a kayak trip, people are budgeting to buy the newest video game. Instead of hiking a trail in the beautiful countryside, people are running on treadmills with a television built right into the machine. Saying that I am frustrated with this trend would be highly hypocritical of me because I do the same things. All the same, this trend is leading to one thing, a smaller demand for outdoor recreation areas.
Another problem that concerns me with our modern society is our need for resources. As a society of consumers, our need for resources has been steadily increasing since the beginning of the industrial revolution. As we use more, the areas to find these resources are continuing to dwindle. Although now it would seem taboo to touch the protected parks and remove its resources now, we may one day look at parks as the only place to find resources to keep our country’s economy stable. If the economy does ever drop here in the United States, to that of below first world status, I believe that our parks would be seen as unnecessary and would quickly be destroyed for resources.
With the overall need for parks declining, matched with the increasing demand in resources, I’m beginning to be afraid I made the wrong career path choice. Will the need for park rangers be around much longer as we progress into the digital-consumer age? Even if this worst-case scenario were to not happen, there is still lots of other problems that could happen to people that rely on being a park ranger for income. As the American debt continues to rise, there may be a possibility that cuts will be made in more of the state and federal employees’ salaries. This could include park rangers, even though their salary is quite modest.
With all this in mind, I still believe that being a park ranger is the correct career choice for me. If there weren’t people like me that saw the importance of our parks, our parks would disappear much quicker. I will stand and fight to protect our forests and our parks if that day ever comes.