Advice To Graduates

The great thing about blogging is that one can write about anything one wishes!

During this past week, I was talking with a physician friend of mine during a work meeting and we got on the conversation of the expectations of our youth ... those graduating from high school and college ... and that most really have no clue as to how difficult it is to make a living and support a family in this present age. Their skulls of mush have been filled with all of the postmodern "crap" that the public (government) schools have forced into their collective craniums. Somehow, most kids have collectively come to the conclusion the the "right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is a certainty that the world (or government) owes them. Boy will they be disappointed!

We remembered the high school graduation speech the Bill Gates gave a few years back giving advice to recent graduates. I decided to look it up and to share it with my physician friend and then I figured I might as well put it into the blog.

Bill Gate's speech is timeless and every recent graduate should read it! Gates talked about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule #1: Life is not fair ... get used to it!

Rule #2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule #3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car-phone until your earn both.

Rule #4: If you think you teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule #5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping ... they called it opportunity.

Rule #6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule #7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule #8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule #9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule #10: Television is NOT real life. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule #11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

(IF YOU CAN READ THIS, THANK A TEACHER! IF YOU ARE READING IT IN ENGLISH, THANK A SOLDIER)

Dear Abby's Readers And Postmodernity

In today's paper (2/5/08) was an interesting Dear Abby column. Someone had written her in October and asked what she perceived to be the main problem in today's society. She responded but later she asked the readers to respond to this query. Abby exclaimed that the "roof fell in" with comments.

One, in particular, got my attention. It came from "Marilyn in the garden state".

I quote: "Society's greatest problem is intolerance. It breeds all the other problems. We're intolerant of other people's views, religions, looks, sexual orientation, languages, mode of dress, career choice, whether to parent - or not. We're in the business of NOT minding our own business".

Marilyn my dear, you are the poster-child for postmodernity. There should be pictures of you hanging all over America to remind our citizens of what has happened to our culture.

We live in a society that has no "tolerance" for transcendent truth; therefore, relativism has taken over our culture. Everyone does what is right in his own eyes with little concern for what is "right" in a transcendent sense. We have "value systems" instead of morals. We have "situational ethics" instead of virtue!

The result is a politically correct world where groups and sub-groups of people have backed into their respective corners and are demanding that everyone recognize their "rights"! This has caused our society to be more marginalized or "tribalized" than ever before. Our nation is more divided today than ever in history and the result of all of this "tribalization" is the opposite of the unity that these "tolerant" people sought to create.

All of this "tolerance" is certainly a harbinger of what is yet to come. Valuing "tolerance" would be great as long as those who espouse this view are "tolerant" of those who dissent ... such as Christians (as stated by Sir Arnold Toynbee).

If everyone does what is right in his own eyes, we will have anarchy ... not unity.

Obituaries

I recently read in the opinion pages of the Asheville, NC paper a little article about obituaries and the interesting "facts" one can find in them. Carol Currie pointed out several things that make them so interesting to those of us who are moving on in age.

My mother-in-law LOVES reading obituaries! She subscribes to and reads six newspapers and then listens to the death reports on the local radio station. For a while, I sorta giggled at her, but now I have found myself thumbing through any newspaper I can get my hands on with some sense of macabre excitement to read all the details. Hanging around my mother-in-law for the past 17 years has even caused me to change my greeting to friends and co-workers that I see daily. "How are you?", they ask? "Well, I checked the obituaries this morning and mine wasn't there, so I guess I'm doing OK!"

Just a few years ago, obituaries used a somewhat standard format, but things have changed. An old friend of mine died a few months ago and his widow wrote an essay about him. I realized that I didn't know him as well as I should.

Some are short and to the point: "John Doe died at his home Thursday and arrangements are being made by "Digs, Graves and Bury Funeral Home".

Some folks pass away, some just pass, some are deceased and some have gone to be with the Lord. Some are in a better place???? ( I reckon that depends on where you were to begin with)! "We lost Grandma last week" someone said. I was wondering if they had been at a big sale at a Super WalMart ... I could certainly understand how Grandma could get lost there. "No", they exclaim. "She was sleeping in her bed and I went to get something to eat and when I got back ... she was GONE"! "Surely someone could find her if she is just wandering around", I thought! THE TRUTH IS THAT SHE IS DEAD! DEAD AS A HAMMER! But folks cannot bring themselves to say or write the word ... dead!

Some obituaries list the several churches where the deceased served his fellow man for years. "He was a member of Bedside Baptist Church for 40 years and served as a deacon for 30 of those years"! (sounds like the preacher found his liquor cabinet and fired him)! Some folks are religious but just nominally .... "He was a Methodist"! What does that mean? He was like the kamikazi pilot in WWII who went on 10 missions ... he was involved but not very committed! I pity the poor soul that has no preacher to direct the funeral service.

One has been employed by Williard's Widget Company for 45 years and was a "fixture in the community". Some are listed by trade ... "He was a carpenter."

The age is always listed ... "John Smith, 55, passed away suddenly at his home Saturday". What troubles me is when you see a picture of a young person and an age listed of 16 or 17. If the obituary tells us that a young person died, it should be a law that the cause of death be listed also.

Today, web sites are listed where friends can go to and leave their condolences ... it is a lot of trouble to take a shower, get dressed and actually go to a funeral home.

Some obituaries give thanks to the doctors and nurses at the hospital that gave such tender care. Some thank all of their friends who "gave so much of themselves during our time struggle"!

Well, now you see. My mother-in-law has caused me to get addicted also. With all of the nasty politics that fill the editorial pages today, the obituary section is a welcome respite in a world gone mad.

We are really hard-up for something to do.

God help us all.