As this decade comes to a close, I’d like to look back a bit and reflect on the things I’ve learned. When the last decade (and century) came to an end, I was just a naive kid who recently graduated from high school and who was starting college. Now that I’m a naive adult who is happily married (because I don’t have kids yet), I think it’s time I did some analysis on the things I’ve learned thus far:
- College is not for everyone. I know that just about everyone will say that you have to go to college in order to succeed in life. But that doesn’t matter all that much in the real world. I learned more about software development by working in the real world than I ever did in college. What I learned for my trade in college was child’s play compared to what I know now, having worked for six years as a software developer. Does this mean that I wasted my time in college? To a degree, yes I did. What they taught me was not a skill for a career but abstract concepts behind the skill. While this certainly is helpful, it wasn’t particularly useful. The truth is, I only got my first job out of college because I had some experience outside of my standard coursework. What this means for the rest of you is that if you have a GPA that is below the national average (or around it), you probably should find a job and work toward a career. In your case, college is nothing more than a day care center for young adults, not a place of higher learning.
- God doesn’t care as much as you might think He does. OK, this one is a little controversial, I know, because there are many people who read this and who don’t believe He exists, many who outright hate Him, and many Christians who believe that God cares about every little detail of their life. No, God did care enough to send His Son to die for our disobedience to His Will (in other words, our sin), but the every day things are usually left to us. Now, this probably could be applied differently to each individual, since I’m sure God treats us all differently, but I suspect that by and large we are left to our own devices for most matters. I guess that’s what makes his interventions in our lives more of a blessing than anything else.
- Ecclesiastes is probably the best book of the Bible. This is the one book that tells us what truly does matter in life and doesn’t hold back the ugly truth of this life.
- Republicans are, by and large, a bunch of hypocrites and liars. While I could say the same about Democrats, that would be beating a dead horse for me. Most of the last decade, I was a conservative who voted for Bush (a mistake I regret now), so I know how bad the Democrats are. But Republicans have many conservatives played for fools as they constantly rally around wholesome family values, a pro-life agenda, and national security when they have terrible familial lives, never pass a damn bill outlawing abortion (or even attempt to), and really use the whole national security mantra to promote the military-industrial complex. For now, I’ve decided to judge candidates as individuals. Closest match wins, and that doesn’t mean Republican or Democrat either. I may stop voting altogether eventually, at least in national elections.
- Human beings are inherently selfish. Ayn Rand was correct to embrace it as a virtue, although it did backfire on her with the Nathaniel Brandon affair. What one considers to be selfish, I consider rational self-interest. As long as you’ve acquired your possessions through your own work, I have no problem with what you do with them, so long as it’s peaceful and leaves me alone. But you have to understand that people will not act out of the goodness of their heart, except on rare occasions. Usually, they will be acting out of their own self-interest and not out of some higher sense of purpose. This applies to people of all faiths and even those without any.
- The Non-Aggression Principle is a universal standard that everyone should live by. Unfortunately, it also is something that people will have to submit to voluntarily as to implement it by force defeats the whole point of it. As such, no government can implement it since that would be using force to do so. The best they can do is adhere to it by repealing laws that violate it.
- There is no way for mankind to obtain a perfect world. I used to believe that it was obtainable if only all of us were Christians but after having dealt with many assholes in Christ, I’ve abandoned all notions of Utopianism. Human beings are going to be human beings regardless of what their beliefs are. Naturally, I do believe that God changes people for the better, but I am never completely trusting of someone just because he or she claims to be a Christian.
- Death is our ultimate fate. When I was a teenager, death was like some fantastic unicorn but now that I have witnessed loved ones suffer and die from cancer, I have a more grounded outlook on things. We don’t have much time on this Earth and much of it will be spent either sleeping or working so that we can keep on living. The best thing a man can do is eat, drink, and find enjoyment in his work (a paraphrase from Ecclesiastes).
- The American Dream is a cliché and complete propaganda. This is not to say that pursuing your own happiness is wrong, just that the white picket fence with a happy, stable family is not only a cliché, but complete New Deal propaganda. A truly free society allows people to live as they chose and not interfere in how they want to live.
- Going into debt, any kind of debt, is not only incredibly stupid, it also contributes to inflation. The fact is, more money is created through debt. What this means for the nation as a whole is that for every debt that is taken out, the supply of currency is increased and thus prices are increased. Also, with the free flow of credit, it creates an increased demand on scarce resources which also lead to price increases. On a more personal level, staying out of debt entirely, including home mortgages, will lead to personal prosperity since being in debt will enslave you to your creditor. Having a debt taken out on something means that it is not yours. If your house has a mortgage on it, then the bank owns it until you pay them off. If you don’t agree with me, then stop paying your mortgage and see if they don’t foreclose on you. The bottom line here is that debt is a bad investment for long-term financial stability and prosperity.
- The best way to judge someone’s intelligence is by how they drive. If someone doesn’t use turn signals, tailgates, honks his or her horn when it isn’t necessary, or drives slowly in the left lane, then you are probably dealing with a moron.
This is a long list, and probably a bit cynical too, but I think that’s a good overview. Of course I learned much more than this over the past decade, probably 100 times more than what I learned in the 1990s, but I could not fill it here. I know this is probably not the end of the decade, but the beginning of a new one. Still, I think I’ve heard it said both ways. Either way, it has been a decade since I graduated from high school, so it’s my own personal retrospective.
Have a Happy New Year’s Eve party and don’t bother with any resolutions. You’ll just break them and feel terrible around January 19th anyway.