I very well may strangle the next person who tells me, glassy-eyed and hunched over a Red Bull and vodka, that I’m entering into “a dying profession.”

“Strangle” might be a bit harsh, but I will stare him down and formulate a sharp, witty and articulate argument against him in my mind. Because that’s what I do: I play with words, I explore their meanings and use them to my full advantage.

As a mass communication major and aspiring journalist, I have become an expert in at least two things: playing phone tag with contacts for news stories and deflecting seemingly well-intentioned inquiries about my chosen career path.

Don’t you want to make any money? So, do you want to be like Katie Couric or something? Aren’t newspapers dying?

Yes. No. Kind of.

The most important lesson I’ve learned in my education thus far at CMU is that because of changing technology, new media platforms and the concept of entrepreneurship, the modern journalist truly is the master of his or her own destiny in a world replete with information and ideas, people and politics.

Successful journalists (yes, they exist) are those who capitalize on their uniquely inquisitive natures, exploring every topic, field and subject matter which ignites even the smallest spark of curiosity. We are writers, photographers and designers, researchers and detectives, political scientists, legal geeks and health care experts.

In no other profession will you find a collective of people who possess a mightier arsenal of knowledge and experience from such extremely diverse areas.

Back to the question of money. True, you will not make a great living if your dream is to grow up and become Lois Lane (as mine once was). But think of the possibilities that exist for an individual who knows a lot about a lot, as is the inevitable outcome for someone who spends the majority of his or her time talking with people who occupy every imaginable sphere of a community.

Now keep in mind that this individual’s personal arsenal is packed tight with cool tools, the purpose of which is to tell the most effective, interesting and impactful story.

Information, human interest and technology. Tell me I won’t get a job, and I’ll prove you wrong.

The news will not cease to exist simply because people have stopped buying traditional newspapers. A democratic society depends on the transparency provided by journalists and now, more than ever, transparency is what the public demands.

Civic duties aside, storytelling in all its forms is at the core of any given culture. When the day is done and I’ve exhausted all possible arguments in favor of my profession, at least I can say I get to tell stories for a living, which is pretty damn cool.