Tue Feb 07 2012
"Some people sit on their butts; got the dream, yeah, but not the guts!" -- Jules Styne, from the musical "Gypsy."
Every summer at least five people say to me how nice it must be to be a teacher and have summers and several holidays off during the year. Most of the time, I just agree that, yes, it is nice. But this year, I'd had enough of it.
At a gathering in my hometown, someone said it once too many times and I laid into her. If she was so jealous, I suggested, perhaps she should become one. I further explained to her the programs from the two colleges where I received both my degrees, reminded her that I'd spent 11 years in college to receive both a bachelor's and master's degree in education, and that I owed the government nearly 90-grand for my education. I further gave her contact and admission information for both colleges I attended so that she, too, could pursue the teaching degree she found so enviable; so that she, too, could have her summers and several holidays off.
Her response was exactly as I expected and often heard, "Oh! I couldn't do what you do! I'd go crazy!"
"Then," I said, "perhaps you should stop criticizing the time I get off if you believe you couldn't do the job I do."
I don't believe myself insensitive or uncaring. I am firm, and I am a realist. I believe in teaching people to go after what they want, and in taking responsibility for how their lives turn out. In reality, we cannot blame anyone but ourselves for how our lives turn out. We make choices that have consequences and results.
Yes, I know bad things happen to people (after what my family has been through in the last year, I KNOW bad things happen). We cannot, however, always control the bad things that happen; we can only control how we respond to those bad things. I don't believe that holding individuals accountable for their own lives makes me insensitive. I think people who bail others out and try to cover their mistakes for them are enablers who create individuals who cannot, or will not, take the consequences of their actions.
Envy is a copout as far as I'm concerned. We have become a lazy culture, one that prefers to be jealous of others instead of admiring the work that got them where they are. We have this "some guys have all the luck" attitude and fail to see that those who are successful have gotten that way through years, sometimes decades, of sweat and tears.
I graduated from Kent State in 2002 with honors. I had a 3.90 grade point average. I was also 37 years old and had worked through college while being a wife, raising two teens, and working outside of my college work. Sometimes I was so tired, I cried. But I had a goal in mind and knew no one was going to hand it to me or falsely build my self-esteem by telling me how great I was, at least not until I'd worked to earn that title. I was also working two jobs while completing my master's degree, and I graduated from Ashland University in 2009 with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
It wasn't luck, it wasn't privilege, and it wasn't that any of the professors "like me better" than any of the other students. It was hours of hard work that yielded the results I wanted.
Many of our currently "successful" people toiled for years before achieving their glory. Margaret Mitchell, author of the well-known "Gone with the Wind," was rejected by 17 publishers before one printed her now-famous novel. Thomas Edison suffered a number of failures before every one of his inventions was a success. Author Stephen King once sold his typewriter, on which he was writing his first bestseller, because he was poor and his son needed antibiotics for an ear infection. So, what do these people have that some of us don't? Determination and a willingness to work hard.
When you see someone who has something you want and don't have, ask yourself what you can do to get that. Don't blame anyone else because of your life's failures. Instead of whining to your mommy that others are successful because your teacher, your boss, your professor or whoever "just likes them better," maybe you should roll up your sleeves, work hard, and go get what you want. With your sleeves rolled up, it will be much easier to pat yourself on the back once you have reached your goals.
The Constitution promises us the "pursuit of happiness." It says nothing about handing it to us in a neat little package.
Comments
By Posting to this site, you agree to our Terms of Service Be polite.
Inappropriate posts may be removed.
Holmescountyshopper.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.
Login above or Register to comment.
0 Total Comments Home | Back
Copyright Wooster Republican Printing Co, LLC. 1995-2010. All Rights Reserved.
Content may not be republished without the written consent of the publisher.
Content may not be republished without the written consent of the publisher.
Dix Communications