aaudetat, thanks for the plug for civility - Playing PC police is the worst part of doing this. Some of you are such great ambassadors for everything we want to be. what would I do without you.
everyone has a sob story to tell. You are welcome to vent on here. Someone I know belongs to the very rich and very well connected dad category. He always got a lot of grief from his peers for his affluence. He was discriminated against for something he has no control over.
Be grateful for the opportunities and try as hard as you can. If you enjoy what you are doing, none of this stuff will ever matter. By getting ahead, we assume that there is some end , some place where it all ends. At the risk of repeating this too many times, let me share this with you -- I read this on a student's blog.
Quote:
'Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are travelling by train. Out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn, and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls.
But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the Station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, daming the minutes for loitering - waiting, waiting, waiting for the Station.
"When we reach the Station, that will be it!" we cry. "When I'm eighteen." "When I buy a new 450 SL Mercedes Benz!" "When I put the last kid through college." "When I have paid off the mortgage!" "When I get a promotion!" "When I reach retirement, I shall live happily ever after!"
Sooner or later we must realize there is no Station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The Station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.
So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The Station will come soon enough.'