It's funny that you don't seem to get the concept that performing a job and having a career in something that you actually love and enjoy and wanted to do since you were a child, can make one happy and satisfied. Obviously, one has to earn a living and make a certain amount of money and wants to have a lifestyle. What you are missing however, is that the amount of money, that lifestyle, where they live, what kind of home they live in, and how they want to live and what makes a person happy/satisfied, various greatly from person to person. It's a personal choice. It's meaningless and asinine to rag on what others' may value or what's important to them because it doesn't meet your own standards, expectations or goals. We are all on different paths.
The wonderful thing about this life is that we all get to choose how we will spend our days on this planet. What is important to you may not be as important or not important at all, to someone else. What they value and find meaningful, may have no meaning for you. And that's fine, but to constantly rain on someone else's choice when you don't even have a clue about the person, who they are and why they are doing what they are doing is just ridiculous, petty and self-serving.
The old saying that when you do what you love for a living, you will never really work a day in your life, rings true for the most part. You need to accept that this is true for many people, not just pilots, but in all walks of life and professions and let it go. I'd rather live out some of my dreams than not, and making a decent wage doing so, is a bonus. It's up to each individual to choose their path, what amount of money they need, their own level of security and how they want to live and where.
A career and a dream can be both, believe it not. And many people have made careers out of their hobbies and earned very decent/good money from them. One never knows what something will lead to in life. And this is why we see many people at some point changing careers, even picking up stakes and moving, to realize their dreams at some point and do what they believe they were meant to do in the first place. That's just part of the adventure. We get to have do overs. We are not chained to anything for life. We get to do what we want and figure out ways to make it work financially. Everyone is allowed their OWN happiness and fulfillment. Not your happiness/fulfillment, not my happiness/fulfillment, but their own happiness/fulfillment.
