When I attended Malone College, I had the priviledge of playing baseball. Since I sat the bench so well, I had to make up for my defeat, so you could say I also had quite a dynamic social life. These Folks were really important to me and became more important than an education. I am pretty sure that the spring semester of my sophomore year, I did not go to bed earlier than 3am. This happened because my friends and I tried to keep Perkins or Country Kitchen in business. I say tried because generally we would only order coffee or hot chocolate and on the rare occasion we had money, we would get a bread bowl. I think Perkins has since done away with those...too bad. I left Malone with a less than desirable GPA. I will not mention it here because in the off chance a future employer looks at this, I don't want to have to explain myself. Let's just say I got by. I did what I had to do.
This brings me to now. I am back in school getting an engineering degree. We just wrapped up this past semester and my grades have been published. In doing this, I kinda feel like Perry from scrubs. The character is this cocky doctor who believes he needs to be cocky and arrogant to be a good doctor. I hope I don't come across this way, but I got a 4.0. This is 4 A's for the four classes I took. I really don't know what I was doing at Malone, but getting A's feels awesome. There is this feeling of accomplishment that I really never felt when I was getting C's and D's. So you could say that the quote "hard work pays off" is true.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Being A Man: A Basic Understanding of Respect
Aside from not posting in a while....
I pulled into the Marathon to get gas today. It was a gorgeous morning. It snowed two days ago and the sun was just beaming off of the bright white goodness. These mornings are an immediate cause for joy.
As a child growing up I was always told that as a man you should eat your green beans to put hair on your chest and always respect women. As I pulled in to get gas, I noticed this lady walking to her Ford Expedition after paying inside. I pulled around her to get to the pump in front of her. As I got out of my car I saw her pulling the nozzle out of the holster and placing it into the tank. The I ventured over to her passenger seat. There he was. He looked squirelly, young, and had braces in his mouth. I would guess he was a freshman or sophomore in high school. He would in my mind be more than able. He took up most of the seat and I would guess he was 6 foot or taller. This is the point where I chuckled and then felt dissappointment.
Was he not told about manhood? "eat your green beans and respect women." When Carrie and I started dating, I want to say that there has been one time when we have been together that she has pumped gas. This would have been the instance when I went in to pay and she hopped out and started pumping without realizing what it would do to my self-esteem. My manhood had come into question. Was I not capable? I immediately told her that she could go sit in the car and I could handle the rest of the pumping.
Now I understand that this braces-faced kid will probably turn out just fine. However, I do think that this could raise a greater issue. I recently watched a 60 minutes report on how Gen X and Y are going out into the workforce. This is the first generation where parents told their kids "they were special." One comment that really got me was how these parents are actually talking to their kid's employers wanting to know want kind of "grade" they are getting. So braces-faced kid, is your mom teaching you self-respect by telling you that you are special? Or would she be better off telling you to get your ass out of the truck and pump the gas?
I pulled into the Marathon to get gas today. It was a gorgeous morning. It snowed two days ago and the sun was just beaming off of the bright white goodness. These mornings are an immediate cause for joy.
As a child growing up I was always told that as a man you should eat your green beans to put hair on your chest and always respect women. As I pulled in to get gas, I noticed this lady walking to her Ford Expedition after paying inside. I pulled around her to get to the pump in front of her. As I got out of my car I saw her pulling the nozzle out of the holster and placing it into the tank. The I ventured over to her passenger seat. There he was. He looked squirelly, young, and had braces in his mouth. I would guess he was a freshman or sophomore in high school. He would in my mind be more than able. He took up most of the seat and I would guess he was 6 foot or taller. This is the point where I chuckled and then felt dissappointment.
Was he not told about manhood? "eat your green beans and respect women." When Carrie and I started dating, I want to say that there has been one time when we have been together that she has pumped gas. This would have been the instance when I went in to pay and she hopped out and started pumping without realizing what it would do to my self-esteem. My manhood had come into question. Was I not capable? I immediately told her that she could go sit in the car and I could handle the rest of the pumping.
Now I understand that this braces-faced kid will probably turn out just fine. However, I do think that this could raise a greater issue. I recently watched a 60 minutes report on how Gen X and Y are going out into the workforce. This is the first generation where parents told their kids "they were special." One comment that really got me was how these parents are actually talking to their kid's employers wanting to know want kind of "grade" they are getting. So braces-faced kid, is your mom teaching you self-respect by telling you that you are special? Or would she be better off telling you to get your ass out of the truck and pump the gas?
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