Snap. Smoooooth. Tuck. -- day 201

Snap. Smoooooth. Tuck.

They say most folk don't end up in the job they went to school for. I say, "What's the point of school, then?" I actually heard one professional teacher explain that school was to help kids learn how to learn.

Learn how to learn? Didn't you come out of the womb not really knowing anything, and have to learn how to eat, talk, walk, and use a toilet? How did you learn to do all of that without going to school? Is there a secret prebirth school that you attend that teaches you how to learn the preliminary skills to learning that a school can only help perfect?

I am not here to knock school. I went to some really great schools in my lifetime, and made some really great friends as a result. I have been exposed to public, private, parochial, homeschool, christian school, and charter school. I've worn uniforms and had dress codes. I've had free dress Fridays, and half day Fridays. I've had field trips to art museums, working farms, and once to night skiing on Mt Hood. My point is: I've seen a lot of different kinds of schools. In all that time, I think the two biggest lessons that school taught me is that people are jerks, and my parents are the best teachers that I've ever met.

Confucius and Marc Anthony are both credited with the idea that if you find something that you love to do, you'll never have to work a day in your life, or some such. And I have to disagree. Sometimes the pressure of doing something that you love for money ends up killing the dream that you had to begin with. I think the secret to being happy is not trying to get someone to pay you to do something you love, but to find something that you love to do and do it for free. Do it with friends, teach other people how to do it. Surround yourself in it, and let it define you. Be what you love, and the work that you have to do to pay for it won't really seem that bad.

Right now, I'm working at a job that some would say is a waste of my talents. But they are missing the point: I am not my job. I am all of the things that I do when I'm not working. The job just allows me to pursue the other things that I want to do in life. I also fold a mean hospital corner.

My parents are wonderful teachers, and one of the greatest lessons that they taught me was to be an awesome parent. So, that's what I'm doing. Teaching my little one to be authentic, and unapologetically herself. Hoping that she continues to love herself regardless of what other people say and do, or what they think of her. Show her that if she shines her light bright enough, she can change the world.

Meanwhile, I will snap, smooth, and tuck.