If I knew half of what I know now then

Been thinking about the Shaq post and the “come to Jesus” his banker had with him regarding his earnings.  Then there is another post that states that we have gone from teaching the languages to teaching remedial math.  There is a problem and not within the scope of what Houston can do.

I reflect again on that basketball player that was in that home ec class who thought he was some hot stuff, a senior that did not even have a letter of intent and his braless, pantyless groupie sitting next to him.  “I am going to be a pro.” Not without a letter of intent.  And regardless you need to have a plan.  Not even a letter of intent from a junior or community college.  Anyway…

Looking back on my life I was thinking how I might like to go to George Fox College or Letourneau University.  Not really sure why but I guess when I went to camp my peers were talking about their future plans so I just assumed.  The problem was there was no one to have that “sit down and come to Jesus” meeting with me.  If I really wanted to go to college then I needed to really address my academics, establish some goals, and prepare my mind. Sports gets you scholarships and I was told of some sports management degrees but I did not know what it would take to get there.  No one sat down for that face-2-face, eye-2-eye talk.  “Your grades suck so here is what you will need to do.”  I really didn’t even know about SAT or ACT.  My teachers and counselors basically informed me that if I graduated…

In a way there was an assumption as well that one would just follow the parents’ footsteps.  Plumbing was not really that bad.  Thinking back and talking to guys that had their businesses that were my age, they were making some pretty good change.   Of course there were other avenues if college was not in the immediate, such as military service.  But only because I could not see a prospering future at Johnny’s Car Wash. 

Over the years I had people cross my path that gave me insight to what I needed to do.  Not unlike the banker telling Shaq he would be like others in his game that were broke, Shaq needed to think his future through.  From a credit union rep that told me in no uncertain terms that if I could not afford a wedding set without a loan I had no business getting married to a jeweler that explained how he would help us create a good plan for the future, from the NCO that first tried to talk me into taking college courses for my future to the NCO that showed me where I had college credit for the tech schools and training I completed.  From that retired admiral I had for math who explained philosophy with Pascal’s triangle to the general that sat across from me on an aircraft and told me we all put our pants on the same, the difference was what we did after we pulled them up.

With my bride I made some choices (if you believe that we have the will to choose) that altered the predictable.  Job choices to educational selections based on what was past the 20 year mark in the military.  Those were factors, several good and some questionable but all for a reason, many yet to unfold. Think about it, from being told at a young age “if you graduate” to teaching graduate students, from Johnny’s $1.60 an hour to $110 an hour, from being a dork to sitting around a dinner table talking to VPs from TWA, United, and other international airlines about the safety issues in their organizations. 

Now it took work, it took recognizing I was not going to get the grades on my looks or family connections.  It was not going to be solely on my ability to dunk a basket. 

How do we pass this information on to the students, kids that are putzing around?  How do we have that “come to Jesus” with those that if they do not change their ways will end up in some deep doodoo?  Partly from within but it is also cultural driven.  How do we encourage those that need encouragement? How do we ensure people do not become enslaved in their perceived inabilities?

How have we gotten this far

in society where kids do not have goals or real desires?   But it is like what I sometimes say, “If I knew half of what I know now then…”  Maybe our job is to be that knowledge.