Sunday, June 15, 2008
THE GRADUATE
We went to a graduation party for a friend who had just received her BA in history earlier in the day.
She had graduated with honors!
She is in her 60s.
She has had a successful life in almost all respects. But she had never finished college and, when she retired from business, it bugged her. So she started going to the local community college to get her degree.
She thought it would take 2 years. It has taken 6.
It was a nice gathering. Quiet. Codgers.
Do I look and act as old as my peers look and act to me? Come on. Tell me the truth.
No?
Gee thanks.
The wonderfulness of the celebration for our friend and yakking with a few other people we already know took care of my normal introverted party stance.
There was food so I could fill some of the time eating.
There was also someone there that I don't like but am 'nice' to anyway and so that helped with the entertainment.
It was a good time.
I do not think that I could ever go to school again. I am still dreaming about the last time I went.
I tried a few courses once—when I was in my twenties. I never went back after the first class.
One was an immersion language program—german. I walked in late and the instructor addressed me in a foreign language. Put me on the spot. Guten tag. I freaked. Didn't answer.
That did it. No more.
And it was my last class.
Of course, I took other 'courses' in the process of getting to be a management trainer. I gave a lot more.
Believe me, giving is a lot better for me than getting.
I am not a model student. I am intensely counter-dependent. That means I am rebellious.
Authority of any kind is an immediate challenge for me. I am highly Power motivated. Little on the Affiliation or Achievement modes. Those familiar with the model will get what I mean.
So, from my own experience, being a student at any age is a tough thing and being a student after a successful career is tougher.
My mortar board is off to our friend. A grand achievement in academic endurance and humble acheivement.
Labels: life
