Anyway, you don't need to thank me for this post. I owe you this. I owe it you, like I owe Sallie Mae way too much money for my 'degree'. If any college kids are reading this, please get a technical skill, go to medical school, or get a masters degree. Not to take away from the rest of us, but no matter what you think, four years in college isn't enough fun. Now some parents and peers may read this and say "c'mon Moe, you had plenty of fun at school! you turned VCU inside out." It is true that I ran Richmond like my name is Rick Ross and I didn't need a Maybach to do it. All I needed was a beat up burgundy Nissan Altima and some Air Maxes.....UNNNGHHHH (RICK ROSS VOICE).
Honestly though, there is a reason why I believe you should stay in school for as long as possible. The reason has nothing to do with gaining more knowledge because in this world knowledge isn't power. It is a burden, a burden for you to do the wise and logical thing. For an entry level or a person 2-3 years into their professional life, knowledge is a road block tagged as arrogance and egotism by managers who don't trust you can do a good enough job without them. In reality they need you though and they are probably threatened that their decades of experience were condensed into a 2 hour lecture you attended once a week for a semester. That's just the way the cookie crumbles, and if you aren't smart enough to scoop up all the crumbs until they let you into the door then enjoy waiting tables at the cheesecake factory home-slice.
That though, isn't the reason why you stay in school for a long time. It isn't about knowledge or skills, and it most certainly not about commitment. It comes down to the credit card you are handed once you step into your home room or first period in 9th grade. It isn't an actual credit card, but you can call it a black card. There are no limits on this card, you can use it every day and on anything. There is no bank backing this credit line either and there isn't a single regulation on its use. I call it the "Immaturity Credit Card". It is almost like playing Monopoly and having an endless amount 'of get out jail free' cards. You can literally make bad decision after bad decision, bad purchase after bad purchase, and continue to do so until you get bored.
The Immaturity Credit Card is unlike any other card you have ever seen. It is backed by intellectual capital and adults everywhere are firm believers that giving you a second, third, or tenth chance to succeed will ultimately lead to you learning that you shouldn't schedule an 8am class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday if you are going to go out every Tuesday and Thursday. Or that you should probably not sneak your dads whiskey into your bag on the way to your senior class field trip. That it might be a bit risky to walk into a historical town's candy gift shop and incise a free for-all thieving of candy and soda for the bus ride back to Fairfax.
All of those things are covered by the Immaturity Credit Card. You can literally do what you want and your parents will bail you out. You can ask for a student loan in any amount to make sure that your shopping, drinking, dancing, and drug addiction is completely covered. In some cases you will apply for a job, just to get suspicion off your back and also use it for a money laundering front for the hustling you do on the side. By all means though, you hustle. You play hard, and when there are mid-terms and finals....you kind of work hard too.
Anything is possible with use of this credit card. It is a bigger network of supporters, and people who are on your side wishing and hoping your lackluster attitude towards life and sense of entitlement will turn into appreciation. One thing those supporters forget about is that sometimes you can dump money and effort into a project or lets say a franchise and still come out looking like the Washington Redskins or even the Miami Heat. All the potential in the world, you even get to the ship but still fall a bit short. You have the talent, by all means you have the finances, and are even 'motivated' by the doubters. You still can't make it happen though. Alas, you still have the Immaturity Credit Card, and with a swipe you are back in it again! Nothing is stopping you from success the second go-round......<----sarcasm
So the question becomes when do you pay back your debt? When do you have to learn from your mistakes. For some they just compound debt finding the right answers and combination for success. One investment didn't work so you take another route. Right there in your corner are the people willing to help you succeed, feeding into your "after some introspective thinking, I know what I want to do now" speech....we all have done it. None of us are perfect and we make mistakes. So the swan song can apply to a lot of us. For some we hit our limit and never have to pay it back because there were no real implications to our actions. We have assets that our peers don't have that are able to take care of the actual debt we stack up. Some don't ever come close to maxing out their limit. They hardly use it and make smart decisions and do what they are supposed to with ease and comfort. Others still can make huge mistakes like ice bombing their ex-girlfriends dorm room and are forced to take a semester or two off from school putting their plans at a stand still. Others have to pay it off with actual financial capital. They swiped their card so many times that it went beyond their support circles means to cover. It had to go on their head. They now have to pay it back. They still need whatever support they can get from their safety net or maybe they don't but in one way or another are paying for the immaturity they exhibited in the past.
No matter what we have a system that promotes the 'Immaturity Credit Card' as much as it promotes the Chase Credit card in your wallet. We encourage youth to "learn" on their own. Trial by fire and whatever means necessary to find your calling or make a career choice finally. According to the great novel 'Stuff White People Like', whities enjoy going to Law School. I know of someone who had no idea what they wanted to do and ended up going to Law School so they can do public service and have all their debt forgiven in a decade. As a matter of fact I know a lot of people who did that. It used to be that kids were tied to their families prosperity and hard work was valued, now things have changed. It is the standard to get a bachelor's, obtain a secret clearance, and then work on some classified project that you will end up telling all your buddies about later that night when you meet for kabobs. Responsibility is key and because parents are too busy providing and earning money for the kids extracurricular activities and their dream home, they ask teachers to do it, but teachers don't get paid enough and wish the parents were more involved. In my mind parent teacher conferences are just to discuss the max limit spending on your immaturity card that quarter.
No matter what though, someone is paying for the Immaturity Credit swipes. Whether it be the actual cardholder or the institution that supports them. Some default and some are stuck in major debt contemplating calling the 1-800 number they saw on that infomercial to consolidate their credit and pay it off at some other price (this is called a part-time job). At the end of the day though you can forget about having Social Security (a savings account or buying a house) or maybe you can raise the debt ceiling like your name is Obama....
