Drinking Up Blame

We were told that we were special. We were told that life was destined to be a kind lover; we were hit with the crash of 2008, and then it became apparent. I graduated in 2009, and came into the world with the naïveté that was to be expected from a 22 year old. I drank up the theoretical, and couldn’t imagine how much I had to learn.

Had I had to do it over I probably wouldn’t have gone to college. Now, I’m not saying I’m not grateful to have had four years to live in a theoretical space. I was blessed to study under three phenomenal teachers. They still influence my work to this day. So, it’s never a complete waste of time. It’s just that the world is not theoretical; it is, and it isn’t nice. My preconceived notions of the world that were false were codified in the absence of reality. I was ill equipped to take on any job requiring a skill or trade. I landed on my two feet though, and worked my way up through food service. I remember when I first started, and could barely stack three plates. I have never given up on my art though (which was my field of study). I will probably never stop doing what I do. I’m compelled to do it. I didn’t need art school in order to do what it is I do. I make work independently of any company or institution. I don’t have any job skills that I learned from the classroom, and most of my soft skills came from food service.

The biggest part of my education came from the outside world at large. We learn from the source, and that source is the world. If I wanted to learn about cars then I would probably go to a garage. If I wanted to learn about identity politics then I’d visit my senator, Elizabeth Warren. I’ll go to the source to learn what I need to learn. Students go to college to learn, but they don’t learn how the world works. Professors profess to know how it works, but if they’ve only experienced academia I doubt their wisdom. Obviously life itself is the greatest teacher, and experience is paramount.

The student debt has reached 1.3 trillion. The ROI on a college education is in serious question. College has not garnered its’ graduates much in terms of valued jobs. Now, a job is still a job. Any job is worth doing well and being grateful for it. The real problem here is that most of the jobs that the Millenials are taking don’t require a college degree. A barista needn’t be in debt up to their eyeballs as they craft latte art. The young people who went to trade school are earning the same or more on average than the typical college grad. I won’t criticize who should earn more or how money “should” be distributed; I’m not a communist. I do have a problem with how Millenials have been brainwashed by their colleges (politically and ideologically). It actually damages their chances of excelling in the free market.

When one lives life truly they live with significance. Safety nets, the theoretical and rounded corners are nice, but they keep us from having a connection to the physical world. The physical world is where we draw wisdom. Books supply us with knowledge. There is a distinction. Studies show that the Chinese have, on average, the highest IQ’s on the planet. Why is this? Is it because their tiger moms make them study morning, noon and night? That’s a part of it, but it is more than that. It is said that rice, as an agricultural staple, was terribly difficult to grow in China. A Chinese farmer needed to prepare with a strict methodology in order to yield enough food to get through the cruelest of winters. If they didn’t get it right, because they weren’t intelligent enough then they died. That’s a real consequence from a lack of learning. If you aren’t smart, strong or ready to make changes then you die. That’s nature; that’s the world. There is much to be said for the delaying of gratification when it comes to determining intelligence. If we sacrifice in the present we stand to gain more in the future.

College used to be partly a sacrifice of four years to prepare us towards a more prosperous adulthood. Now, colleges are pretty much parties that teach its students how to blame illusory forces. I don’t believe most classrooms, dealing with the humanities, teach personal responsibility, culpability or tenacity. Obviously, for those who study STEM, this isn’t taught directly. It is taught indirectly though, because numbers don’t lie. Feelings often lie, and the humanities are all about feelings. Try to win a debate when you are yelling, crying or don’t have statistics at the ready. It’s like martial arts; heart alone won’t get your hand raised in victory.

Wisdom is hard earned. You can’t buy it; you earn it. How does one earn it? You earn it through failing mostly. That’s a hard pill to swallow. Wisdom is for those willing to fail. My dad is an ER physician with over 30 years of experience. He’s cracked open many chests in his day. He always said that the researchers from Harvard don’t correlate their research with the clinical in real time making that research, “idiotic.” My dad picked bullets out of people in Lawrence for decades. He had hands on experience in the real world. The world is not kind to those who don’t accept their failure. When we learn to blame the world first before accepting culpability the world will choke us out. The Chinese farmers who didn’t accept their shortcomings in growing rice didn’t make it. Those young people who blame the illusive patriarchy, space aliens or Trump are setting themselves up for a hard fall. The future is not kind to weak people.

Food service taught me to toughen up. In the free market nobody cares about your feelings. They care about the numbers. Can you perform; that’s the question they ask. Years ago, my best buddy in the world was caught sneaking some Maker’s Mark into his morning coffee at work. A manager caught him, and he was out on his drink-stealing ass. He accepted his failure though, and learned from it. He gained a little wisdom that day... once his hangover subsided.

I think it took me five years to sober up from college. The hangover that lingered after was a reminder of the sweet lies I drank up. Now, I’m clean and sober from the bullshit of the institution. The future will look very different in the decades to come. Technology will continue to transform the intrapersonal landscape (for better and worse). Trump is bringing more jobs back, but who’s to say how long these jobs will last (before even more automation occurs). College will be further revealed for what it is, a theoretical party where the price of tuition is more than just gold; the price is the numbing drunkenness of copious amounts of lies. Trade schools will be resurrected as pillars for upward mobility. We will continue to weigh the benefits of the institution at large. If the ROI isn’t good then we’ll stop investing in it. It’s simply that transparent. The world is the arbiter of resource acquisition, and aggregate demand will influence the market. Give a man a hammer and knowhow; don’t give him excuses and a piece of paper.