The sound of one hand clapping

A reflection for my young friends who have graduated or will graduate in the near future .  Let's think of this as a valedictorian speech from a 37 year old who was never smart enough to have been valedictorian.


In my opinion school is not about what you learn - it is about who you start to become while you are attending school that will matter the most about twenty years after you've left.  The possibilities are endless when it comes to the type of person you are becoming.  There may be a job or career you feel partial to, but the reality of becoming that person may seem impossible.  People will tell you being a musician is impossible - in fact you will be told that being any type of artist is impossible.  You may be told that choosing a certain profession will cost you thousands of dollars to attain a degree and when you graduate you will never get a job in the field you've studied in or that the job you get will pay you nothing and reap you no benefit.


Let me - let you - in on a little secret.  Anyone who deters you from becoming who you want to be.  Anyone who tells you how hard something will be.  Anyone who tries to persuade you that who you want to be is not possible or realistic is no friend of yours.  They are not worthy of you.  They are not thinking about what is best for you.  They do not have your best interest at heart.  I would advise you - whether this person or these people are friends or family - I would advise you to run.  Whether friend or family, confidant, teacher or advisor - you need to run.  You need to plug your ears and not listen like when you were six years old.  You need to plug you ears and run.


I could go off on the type of person who would give you advise to NOT follow your dreams, but this is not about them.  This is about you and your life.  What will happen if you listen is eventually you will awaken from a dream.  It's actually not a dream it is the reality of what life will become for you if you don't follow your actual dream.  Your life will drift by.  Your days will be filled with paying bills and doing things you hate so you can pay your bills.  You will amass more bills and debt while trying to purchase things that will soothe yourself.  The reason you need soothing is due to the fact that you do things you hate for a living because you amass debt and purchase things.  It is a sad reality for most of us, and even more sad is the reality that all we had to do to avoid this fate was to follow a dream when we were your age.  It doesn't mean that everyone will or would have become a rock star.  It means that on the road to becoming a rock star you would grow as a person, and a life that begins in the right direction will most likely continue to follow the right direction, and eventually you will end up in the place you were supposed to be - instead of the place you had to manufacture because you didn't follow your dream.


Your dream may be to become a doctor, but maybe your grades are not good enough or perhaps it will just take too long and you need to feed yourself so you think you need to get a job first.  Don't do it.  Don't trust yourself to 'go back to school next year'.  At every corner you will fight the path of least resistance.  You will struggle.  You will buy things you don't need, and then the excuse will be you will go back when your VISA is paid off, or when you get a new computer. Don't give yourself a chance to make excuses.  You will end up forever trying to feed yourself as a bus driver or a salesman and everyday you will think about where you could have been or what you could have done if only you put your energy into doing what you wanted rather than focusing on a part of life that you will always find a way to get through anyway.  So starve a little (trust me you will starve in other ways anyway).  Trust yourself to find a way.  Go to the damn food bank if you have to.  Hell if you know me come to my house and I will feed you.  Just don't let the things that jealous petty people say take you aback.  Don't trust anything other than the little voice in your head that is telling you what to do.


So maybe your 'little voice' is quiet.  Maybe you are the final type of person who doesn't know what you want to do.  Well I call bullshit, but o.k. let's play the game.  Research the job that pays the most amount of money and doesn't require you to work full time.  Find the job where you can consult and work from home.  Find the job that will allow you the most amount of leeway to choose projects you want to work on.  Google it right now.  That way you can go to school for the best job.  God knows those of us working stiffs do all the shitty jobs so there is no need for you to join the ranks.  Basically if you are going to work do the research and get into something that will allow you to follow your passion down the road when you figure out what it is.


In summation and trust me I know this is a total cliche, but nothing is impossible