We all have choices in the kind of academic route to take:: the "hard knocks school," "Ivy League institution," or the "So-so school."
A very few who dropped out were able to resume their education via hands on training and made billions. But don't even think that that's the best way, Bubba! That's hard work and it can lead to an early cardiac failure. For every charmed guy (or gal) who winds up on top of the hill there are hundreds of millions that got ignored by Lady Luck. Oops! Luck is a very minute element in the scheme of things.
The Cinderellas and Cinderfellas up there have enviable traits most of us mere mortals don't possess: a sharp eye for possible opportunities and a single-minded determination to shape circumstances to their advantage. The classic examples are Carlos Slim and Bill Gates. Okay, okay... I don't know much about Slim except that he's the son of a Lebanese immigrant who kept on winning every time he rolled the dice in real estate and other endeavors. Everybody knows Gates' story - he bought a crappy OS, made improvements on it and gave it away to program developers. Wasn't it IBM who scrapped that shitty OS to the trash can?
Now, where's IBM? Still struggling to defend its turf against the new geniuses.
Me? I dropped out of school several times and that's where the similarities with Slim and Gates end. While the two are running to the bank, the banks are running after me!
Is success supposed to be measured by riches? Oh... oh... here it comes: "Hey dude! Are we going to hear a litany of sour grapes?" I don't really know how to measure it. A friend (Alex Castro) observed that it sure would be fun to have 3 Rolls Royces, a Lamborghini and a Ferrari in the garage, several mansions around the world and a couple of jet planes ready to take off for a round of fresh sushi in Tokyo (like Kim Jong Il).
I certainly see some downside there: I can't drive that pink Rolls Royce without fear of being abducted somewhere in London or, getting mugged while shopping in Manhattan. And each time I board that jet plane I put my life in the hands of a total stranger behind the controls. For all I know he could have discovered his wife cuckolded him and he's now bent on crashing my $10 million dollar Lear jet against the Empire State Building!
Having gone to a so-so school and rented my brains and brawn to capitalists, I'm now way, way past my best years and just waiting to grow daisies. Everyday I wonder how far Social Security, Medicare and SNAP will take me. Each time I hear somebody cough behind me I jump out of my skin thinking that's a bill collector out to jump me! Yes, I belong to the 47% Romney detests so much. Idiot! I may not be a member of his golf club but my Forty-Seveners club clobbered him at the polls!
And so, as each day boringly passes by, life is occasionally spiced up with a trip to a Chinese buffet or an Italian resto (thanks to my son, Dondi) instead of a sumptuous lunch at the Savoy! Alas, my having attended "So-so University" disqualified me from becoming Verizon's CEO and I never even got a chance to apply for a Wendy's franchise. When I kick the bucket I'll be lucky if I get a decent burial and a 15-minute eulogy. Even the thought of cremation frightens me: it's getting to be expensive, thanks to OPEC's high-priced oil.
Regrets? None, Bubba. I wouldn't have it any other way. My Hyundai took me to a lot of places that a Porsche couldn't without putting me in harm's way. Thank heaven I didn't acquire millions of dollars I'd be forced to donate a part of to my alma mater out of "gratitude." To hell with Princeton, Ha'vard and Yale! University of the East took me through life safely.
And my epitaph? "Rest in Peace" is the best yet. See you in Wormville!
Romney says his statement was taken out of context. Duh?
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