My dad was laid off. Then he was fired. The union was too powerful. He wanted to be a union member. The economy was suffering. In the tank because that worthless twit Jimmy Carter had been running the country. Straight into the ground.
It started with an ill-timed strike. It ended with us losing our house. Everything he'd worked for. Everything he did.
He was over 20 years deep into the factory, DuPont, a good place - one all my family basically worked at.
The first thing he did with his severance was go buy an above ground swimming pool. The second thing he did was encourage me to go work in the factory.
I was never a factory working kind of guy. As I've said before on here - I talked to myself. I did commentary. I plotted my every move. I wasn't going to go work for a factory.
Nor was I a college guy. Years later, after my parents lost everything, including each other, I was dating a girl.
I was 19. She was in highschool. About to graduate. She was in the Who's Who of smart people. She wanted me to go to college. I could care less.
I could have graduated when I was 15. Been out of college at 18. Moving on to a better life. My dad wanted a factory worker. That's what we were. That's all we were supposed to be. But that's not why I didn't want to go to college.
The reason was simple. I wanted to move on with life. We only have so much time here on Earth. I didn't want to spend my time behind a desk listening to other people who never accomplish anything bloviate about whatever subject they just happened to learn (yes, the hate runs deep).
I wanted to rule the world. That world was my world. Whatever I wanted to do.
My girlfriend was always on my case. "You have to go." "We'll not be together much longer if you don't," "I can't be with someone with no aspirations."
Two years to the very day I graduated from Highschool, I took a test to get into college. She graduated. Who's Who. Smart girl. Going to rule the world.
Let me stress, I didn't study for the test. Never cracked a book. Never did a math quiz. Never lifted a finger. My only job was to take the test. Didn't even care. I wanted to fail the test and say to her, "see, I shouldn't go to college. No one cares."
That's not what happened.
On the form you fill out before you take the test you get to pick 5 colleges you would go to if you could. I picked outrageous colleges. Schools I should never attend. All five wanted me after the test. They all sent letters of acceptance. Let's meet. Please come see us.
I scored really, really well.
After her graduation we enrolled in a college together and got an apartment. Only, it wasn't "we" who enrolled. They turned her Who's Who's ass down. She had to go to remedial college. She couldn't get in.
Suddenly I was with a girl who wanted me to do something I didn't want to do to begin with, and she hated me because I was able to do what she wanted to do but couldn't.
It wasn't my fault. I couldn't care less about being a conformist.
My dad wanted to be a union member. He believed in it. Voted for Bill Boner for crying out loud. He might have even been a line dancer if such a terrible thing existed in his day and age. He thought I should be a factory worker like him my whole life. Do petty nothingness on the side from time to time. Because you have to. It's not a choice. Factory jobs only pay .01 cent when all is said and done (remember, I went through his drawer look for candy change).
My girlfriend wanted to be a college student. She pressured me into following her path. She was the smartest. The brightest. The Who's Who of everything in her school. She couldn't even get in.
We ended up going to a community college together. Losing the apartment. Moving in with family and then each other over time. I once quit a job. It was a horrible job. I couldn't see myself working there any more. She was sitting on the couch when I came home. She asked, "what are you doing home?" I said, "I couldn't stand one more second of that place, I'll find something else."
She called me a bum.
"You're a bum. You're never going to be anything but a bum." This coming from a girl who scored less than me on a simple test to get into college. The smart girl. After I had already been out of school for two years and didn't care to do well on the test anyhow.
I told her to get out. We were done.
I was the first person in my family to ever go to college. I'm proud of that. She made that happen. I give her credit for that. Had she not been so angry and bitter, I may have even stuck around and graduated. Left with a proper degree.
Since leaving college one lesson I've learned and always stuck with is this: always give yourself permission to be the best at whatever you want to do.
I don't ask permission. I don't rely on a piece of paper that someone else gave me. I rely on myself. I became Chief Marketing Officer. That's pretty good.
And I learned something else: Never let a small minded and inferior person dictate what your life should be.
She wasn't looking after me. No more than my factory working dad was. They both wanted me to follow in their footsteps. A girl who couldn't get into a real college. A dad who wanted to work in a factory for a union and ended up losing everything (he worked in another, owned by the same company, at a substantially reduced salary, until he retired).
I'm out.
Offers/Advertising:
White Hot Weight Loss
Regain Sharper Focus and Boost Your Memory
A Ground-Breaking New Diet
The Jesus Diet