When I was young, we were always told to hurry up and mature. That romantic view of an imaginative childhood, the one educators tell us we must return to, was fleeting at best. (1) Grow up: life is short! Study, study and yet more study: get that degree! Now, get a job – any job. You must make money to save, save, save. Why? To have a good life after you retire, of course: sound familiar? There is a list of false assumptions here. The one I particularly enjoy, “Life is short!” Whoever created this chestnut has obviously never lived life. Life is extremely long: it goes on and on and on. This is especially troubling for those of us who make a life altering mistake: education, career, marriage, lifestyle, etc.
This is followed by, it is necessary to study, to get an education – this meaning formal/university education: nonsensical. Somehow, going to college has become the new apprenticeship program: “A master craftsman or master tradesman was a member of a guild. (2) In the European guild system, only masters and journeymen were allowed to be members of the guild. An aspiring master would have to pass through difficult career benchmarks, from apprentice to journeyman, before he could be elected to become a master craftsman. He would then have to produce a sum of money (A bond: used as insurance against poor quality workmanship) and a masterpiece before he could actually join the guild. If the masterpiece was not accepted by the masters, he was not allowed to join the guild, possibly remaining a journeyman for the rest of his life. Originally, holders of the academic degree of “Master of Arts” were also considered, in the medieval university system, as master craftsmen in their own academic field.”
Next, my degree will allow me to segue into an excellent job, “The legs up on the desk leave at five o’clock type.” The poor soul who believes this will soon face a nasty, nasty “reality check.” The recent, tragic story of the young woman dying in Japan from overwork only reinforces the fallaciousness of this idea. (3) Your graduation marks but a beginning rung in the long climb up the ladder of experience. As we have said many times, the accepted notion is that it requires a minimum of 10,000 hours to gain even a modicum of expertise. This is where it becomes somewhat problematic. “Do I accept the higher paid job that gives me less experience or do I go for the money? Go for the money, stupid” Sadly, in a majority of circumstances, this is the wrong answer. Sometimes even unpaid internships give you more career knowledge than the paid ones. It is extremely important to “take the long view.” You and you alone must discern what is good for you and your future. Our parents, teachers and other authority figures love us, but they cannot live out our lives: we are born alone and we die alone. We must take 100% responsibility for our own lives (This, by the way, is true at any age – whatever medical, financial or spiritual calamity afflicts us). This is, of course, all capped off with, become your own investment banker and “squirrel away” a nest egg for your retirement. Sadly our savings are not backed by gold. (4) They are promises of value from a central government. The paradigm begs the question, “Why is a consumptive life necessary?” It isn’t, I think you will find. Money is good, but it does not have the power and the value that we believe. (5) This whole process does nothing but push us into wage slavery. To be free we must first find what we love. This can only be realized through experimentation, through action, through trial and error. If you think you want to do something and, upon experience, you realize that it is not for you — change it. The most important point here is to act. Second, accept that this assertion is true: life is work – enjoyable work, but work! To most, success, whatever that means to you, is achieved after years of diligent and relentless effort. Remember: life is good, fun, and filled with adventure. The great Olympian and iconic historical figure, Jesse Owen (1913-1980), leaves us with a thought. We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.
A closing thought: Someone said to me the other day, “The good die young!” No, they don’t. They die old and gnarled and filled with accolades. If you die young – bad luck, life is fickle. As an aside, I go to a gym and on the opposite side of the street is a parking garage. To get to the building, there is a sidewalk with an enlarged handicap access. It is often filled with poorly parked scooters. I have tried to ask the security guards to have them removed – all to no avail. Now one of our clients has given me the police app: Taichung Police Department. At your leisure, you can report these types of miscreants yourself. We must all protect the Common Good, especially those weakest in our society.
To sum up: This week, we spoke about societal expectations. These do not have to be our own unless we adopt them. We must remember that it is a long life filled with great adventure.
A truism: why is it when your scooter doesn’t start and you try and try and try to turn over the motor (and you push it 20 blocks to the scooter shop) that the mechanic is able to fire up the engine at the first turn of the key? Is life fair or what?
Just for fun: Tracy Chapman – Fast Car Live (with Lyrics)
This week, please ponder your own paradigms. Are they the right ones for your life?
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Quote: I only know what I know: everything else I must accept as true, but I don’t know if it really is.
Footnotes:
1) Sir Ken Robinson – Imagination and Empathy
2) Guild
3) Death by overwork’: Head of Japan’s largest ad agency to step down after employee’s suicide