Strapped or Not?

The other day I was reading a commentary about a book entitled Strapped by Tamara Draut. Ms. Draut is the Director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos, which is a public policy center in New York City. In her book she talks about the difficulty that young people have in getting started today, and gives suggestions about how the government can help – for example banning credit card companies from promoting on college campuses. Now I will admit that I have only read the posted excerpt of the introductory chapter, and most of my thoughts are based on the commentary I read. But then, when has that ever stopped a blogger from posting his or her thoughts? In my defense, though, I have tried to do some research to get a better idea of the topic as it is covered and the feelings of the sides involved.

One thing that I noticed in looking at the excerpt and the commentary is the different background of the two writers. Draut is a liberally-educated director of a liberal think-tank in New York. The commentary I read was by a man called Michael Masterson (an admitted pseudonym), who is a millionaire businessman. Obviously these two are not going to see eye-to-eye. I consider myself to be a relatively moderate conservative, former teacher, and entrepreneur with some experience in a number of areas (which in some circles would make me an expert on multiple subjects). So with this out of the way, let’s begin.

Strapped presents the idea that the world has gotten so hard for the 20- and 30-somethings that by-and-large they cannot succeed in life. They are weighed down with debt and can’t find jobs that will get them out of the situation. The working world has gotten to the point that a college degree is now the entry level education, but those degrees are now so expensive that many young people cannot afford them without going seriously into debt. This debt then makes it impossible to get ahead because the wages paid are not enough to allow them to get out from under their debts and live a normal life at the same time. Along with the aforementioned ban on credit card promotions, she also advocates more government grants for education and a more equal pay scale.

I could not help but feel for the individuals presented in the intro of Strapped, but I also couldn’t help but wonder about the stories that were not told. How well do these stories represent the plight – or condition – of the great mass of 20- and 30-somethings who are discussed in the book? I know people in that age group who are struggling, and others who are quite successful. I also know Baby Boomers who are on the verge of disaster. So were these people chosen because they represented the majority, or because they were visceral and tear-provoking? I suppose only the author would know for sure.

On the other hand, the commentator only gave as an example his own experience of developing a successful above-ground pool installation business with two friends from college. He describes in his piece how they busted their tails to develop a business that was eventually brought each an average of $300 a day, allowing them to pay off college debts and be able to move forward – all in a matter of about 10 weeks. However, having written two books, Automatic Wealth and Automatic Wealth for Grads, both successful sellers, he must have some idea of what he is talking about.

I think one thing that bothers me most about Draut’s book is her insistence that it’s “not my fault.” In the intro she complains “Far too often, social critics place the blame squarely on our shoulders, maligning everything from our work ethic to our spending habits.” But what do you call it when (as mentioned in other reviews) some young people are insisting on having the iPod, the X-Box, and a host of other cash-heavy and future-poor items? As Jim Rohn, one of the leaders of the self- and business-improvement industry says, we get paid for the benefits we bring to our employer. No benefits, no pay.

What I see in this book is part of what has gotten us to the situation that Draut complains about – an attitude of entitlement. The feeling among too many young people that they don’t have to earn what they have, they should just be given it. It takes its form in the child who “has” to have the newest iPod or iPhone, the student who doesn’t understand why the teacher insists on seeing effort in exchange for a passing grade, the young person who wants good pay just for showing up to work, or the author who insists that the government should solve the problems of expensive college costs and debt. All of which really ignore – or in Draut’s case argue against – the idea of personal responsibility. It’s the politics of victimology – “It’s all their fault.”

I’ll end here for now, although I could probably go on…and I will on another day.

Mentors and Mentoring

I was reading a post on a network site today about mentors and how important they are for our growth and success. The author pointed out that mentors can be almost anyone in our lives who can help us to see our situation more clearly and discern a direction to go. They encourage us, they support us, they challenge us. They can give us direction when we need it. Then someone else mentioned the idea that maybe mentors could be virtual, and if so maybe they didn’t even have to be living.

So that got me to thinking about the idea of non-living mentors. If a mentor is someone who helps give us direction, then why not someone no longer living, or even someone who has never actually lived. After all, haven’t most of us had the experience of getting a little boost from a quote from the past or even some song lyrics? With this in mind, I thought I would take a look at some lyrics from the song “For Good” from the musical Wicked.

“I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you”

People do come into our lives all the time, but is it always “for a reason”? Well, I guess that depends on how you look at the word “reason.” (No, this isn’t like the infamous definition of what “is” is.) Now, this is not a tangent, but I’m going to digress a moment from my main topic and look at the ideas of “reason,” “accident,” and “coincidence.” If we think of “reason” as meaning something is done with a “purpose,” then that would make it the opposite of “accident.” For example, if you break someone’s arm by accident, you will be in much less trouble than if you do it on purpose or for a specific reason. But with the word “coincidence” we have a problem in that the word itself is opposite or contradictory. “Say what?”

What do we usually mean by a “coincidence”? Usually it refers to something unplanned (or made to look unplanned if used sarcastically). The site Dictionary.com presents the main definition as “a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance.” But the same site gives the definition of the root “coincide” as “to occupy the same place in space, the same point or period in time, or the same relative position.” I have come to understand and believe that coincidences are not accidents. I remember seeing this illustrated logically by the use of angles in mathematics. Angles that “coincide” go together when overlapped – in other words, they match each other, despite apparent dissimilarities.

Now let’s get back to our example. Do people come into our lives “for a reason”? I believe they do, if we are willing to make the effort to learn from them. Herein lies the main point in the song, as far as I’m concerned: “And we are led/To those who help us most to grow/If we let them/And we help them in return.” Our lives coincide with those of people who will help us grow – in other words, our mentors. But here is the rub, as Shakespeare would say – we have to “let them” help us grow. The greatest mentor in the world is useless to someone who refuses to allow him/her to help. On the other hand, sometimes the most ordinary-seeming person can have a great influence on our lives. It all depends on our willingness to allow the “coincidence” to work its magic – on both sides. When we do this, we just may find ourselves saying:

“Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good”

Giving and Getting

The other day I read an article in a national newspaper about the idea of giving and getting, and it got me thinking. The author of the article was responding to a question about whether giving to a charity was part of the questioner’s business success. The author suggested that the reason the business owner was so successful was that he was “giving” extra value to his customers and to his employees, and that this was the reason for his success. The author gave an example of making referrals to a company that had done remodeling work several years before because the company had not only done an excellent job, but had also left the area cleaner than before. This was contrasted with another company which had left pieces of debris scattered around after the job was finished. The author’s point was that the first company, because it had given more value for its service, had earned the right to have referrals to future customers. Obviously the second company had not. Now I am not going to argue this point at all – after all, who wouldn’t prefer to recommend a quality company that goes beyond the letter of its contract? What I am arguing with is the idea that this is the only reason for the success of the original questioner, and that his giving to charity was not a factor.

If you read much of the success literature out there, particularly the books that I read, you will find the idea of reciprocity. In other words, we get what we give. This is in line with the idea of the Law of Attraction, which as you know has become a huge topic thanks to the book The Secret. I suggest that the reason the businessman here is so successful is because of the Law of Attraction – he has made it a part of his life to give to others, and so the world has seen fit to give back to him. I have no doubt that this man gives more than is expected to his clients, and probably to his employees as well. But I believe that it is his dedication to giving to others he doesn’t know through charity that provides the biggest boost to his life, personally, professionally, and possibly spiritually. Think of it this way – if we all give to others, isn’t it logical that we will end up being the “others” that someone else is giving to? Wouldn’t that be a nice way for the world to work?

Believe in Yourself

Welcome to the Thoughts of a Recovering Teacher

Greetings to all of you out there in the Blogosphere. Herewith are the ramblings of a Recovering Teacher who is currently in transition in life to online and offline entrepreneur. Those of you crazy enough to join me on my ramblings will be treated to a cavalcade of opinions, comments, ideas, and more - or less as the mood strikes me. I hope that some of you will share your own thoughts with me and maybe we can get some good dialog going...or not.

To let you know a little bit of my background, I was a teacher for 14 years full-time and 3+ years part time (substitute, lecturere, etc.) primarily in middle school and mostly in English, with social studies thrown in on the side. I did have a few chances to slip out of the "wonder" years (you wonder how they ever make it out alive) to high school and community college level, but always ended up back in 7th grade. I guess I must have pissed off the universe at some point. But seriously, I did have some good experiences there to go along with the not-so-good ones that finally drove me out. Maybe sometime I will blog about those, but I really prefer to put most of that behind me.

So with that, I will end for this post. But fear not (or maybe you should fear) I will be back with new thoughts and ideas. Until then, enjoy life and Believe in Yourself.