Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A Short Bio

Not trying to get sentimental on you folks out there but much of the past year has been an endeavor in discovering what to do with life.  A former teacher of mine once said I was "lost."  Good job, you pegged every high school student in the country.   Fortunately my brother just got a shiny new GPS in the mail and I should have my bearings shortly.

I took a few of those bull shit placement tests several years ago; quite reminiscent of shaking the magic 8 ball they never quite hit the mark for the simple reason that "people are complex" and cannot be generalized into a "quick and easy" survey.  From my sophomore year of high school on, I had so much literature about college force fed to me I should have had a PhD by default!  Intuition told me better but I took the bait and decided to see where that road led.  Unfortunately I seemed to have joined the race during rush hour traffic.  I studied history for 2 years at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.  The experience was beneficial, however I say that about all experiences because you learn from all of them, unless of course you are brain dead.  But that falls under the Cartesian argumentation of what defines a person and I decided not to write that paper so moving on.  Most of my peers chose majors based on what would lead to a profitable career; mine was chosen based on what interested me, history.  Long story short I left school almost a year ago to the day and you folks know the story from there, if not, scroll back a few posts.  That should catch you up.

My formal education has been on hold ever since but by no means did I quit my pursuit for knowledge.  A lot of folks out there cringe at the idea of a history lecture dismissing it as unbearably dry and redundant.  To so many, it's all about dates corresponding to that thing that happened over yonder, involving that arrogant prick from Europe.  What history means to me probably says a lot about my world view.  Saying I'm one of those people who sees history like a story doesn't quite do it.  I am fascinated by history because it observes the human experience in its entirety.  Rather than see who did what when, I see all the great things accomplished throughout humanities' existence and the unlimited potential of what we might do with our lives.  However this world isn't a fairy tale and as my old psych professor Dr. Wattson drilled into my head, "people are complex."  People are also capable of terrible atrocities and to dismiss either is to ignore the truth about ourselves.  People are complex just as human societies are and regardless of your education, moral integrity or natural ability our world does not permit everyone to live as royalty.  There are a plethora of occupations out there which Must be done for the things continue as they are and someone has to do them.

So, am I lost?  Not at all.  I am getting the most experience out of life that I can see possible.

"I am sovereign of all I survey."
            -Henry David Thoreau

2 comments:

  1. Nice post, the closing quotation is open to at least a couple of interpretations. Care to say more?

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  2. I have a lot to say about this quote, and any I write down, depending on when you ask. Here its emphasis is on being content with the life we make and on our ability to change it if we feel otherwise.
    Being from Walden, my original thoughts on this quote reminded me of a backpacking trip in the pouring rain. We (me and my friends) were all just shy of miserable all the while birds were flittering through the trees chirping; makes you feel small to realize your own insignificance. When we stop thinking inwardly and consider the world around us, the whole picture at once, small obstacles seem a bit silly and the knowledge that the things you need to survive or thrive, depending whether one of those things is a can of spinach or a box of Wheaties, is quite encouraging.
    What was your original interpretation?

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