I recently came across a speech by typing the words: "I wish I had..." into a Google search. One of the first results that appeared was not necessarily what I had intended to find, but I suppose the random nature of the search gave way to random results. The byline on the top of the page noted that this was a speech written for high school students and that it had never been delivered. The school he had been asked to speak at, upon reading over the copy, had decided that his speech wasn't quite what they were looking for. Needless to say, I was intrigued. What content could be so dangerous that a high school administrative staff would be forced to veto its delivery? I read on.... The first line that really got me was this:"don't give up on your dreams... implies you're supposed to be bound by some plan you made early on. The computer world has a name for this: premature optimization"
Premature optimization, to try and make the most of something before you even realize what exactly it is. This was my greatest fear in high school: I didn't know what I wanted to be, where I wanted to go...half the time I didn't even realize where I was at. But still, there would be some head at the front of an nondescript classroom telling me to act on it. In fact if I take a step back now, to gauge where I'm at... I still don't know exactly what I want to be, or where exactly it is that I'm going and these heads still exist. I doubt I'm alone. I see it in the faces of the everyday. The drones working for 8.50 and hour, the old ladies on the bus sucking humbugs. Are they where they want to be? Are they going anywhere?
I do know this, what I want to be - more than any practitioner of a specific profession - is happy. Where I want to be - more than anywhere specific in the world...even a beach with a waterfall - is surrounded by people that share the same passion for life that I do.
Money is irrelevant in this argument, it's about what a person does with their own capital. The gap between the average human being and Niche far from marginal. Why is it that so few of us strive for greatness? That so many would rather settle for someone else's cookie cutter life? Instead of 'don't give up on your dreams' the phrase should go something like: 'let your dreams be your own.'
That was the problem with high school, or maybe it just went unmentioned. It was there for us to figure out for ourselves. Though it would have been nice to have someone let us know that it wasn't the rest of our lives at stake. High school, at least to me, was about the social atmosphere. It was about doing something you hate, you don't understand, or just plain don't care about just to complain to the next person about it all; To create some common ground.
But I digress, the most fascinating thing about this article is that I wrote something similar when I had graduated high school. An expository for those who cared to read it. I did not necessarily set out to inform, but inform is what I did. I did not necessarily intend to impact readers, or advocate the reevaluation of views...if it happened, so it goes. The interesting thing to consider goes beyond the content of either, but the censorship that attempted to offset and obstruct it. Selective education versus something more free. Why not allow the kids to hear what else is out there? Why not allow them to see that there is truth beyond those red brick walls. Are we so far removed from ideals such as democracy? Isn't the cornerstone of our society supposed to be choice? Are some ideas really that dangerous? Granted there is a certain structure to the system, one that requires a hierarchy of affluence and respect (fear) to keep the masses flowing through and fulfilling the duties that keep this society running. I feel that it's cultural suicide, but maybe that's just me.
Perhaps there was no formal governing body subjecting my work to censorship. Perhaps it was my lack of regard for the student masses out there that kept me from transforming my private discourse into something more public. Now, based on an arbitrary example I will assume that I too would have been blocked out like the sun had I tried. Self-defeating, or self-absorbed? Well I'm not a hero, let them discover it for themselves, or perhaps not at all. After all, the world does need garbage-men.
If I had to break down his entire speech and combine it with what I had intended to communicate it would be that high school exists to encourage the questioning of itself and other similar institutions. That the ones who get the most out of any institutionalized education are those that reject and find new methods of attaining truth, objective or otherwise. The byproduct of such are masses of robotic, barely self aware creatures ready to serve yet another hierarchy. It's like using bacon grease to cook your eggs. mmm... functional.
Now let me end with a quote,
I forget who originally said it, not that it really matters in this context,
for me the words came from an eclectic old carpenter:
"it's not the answers that are important, but the questions"
Anyone that doesn't understand that needs to keep flipping my burger.
note: yes, I used a semi-colon. Though many have joined the hate parade dedicated to their destruction, I am keeping them alive.
[to read the article/speech by Paul Graham click this]
[to read the article I wrote 2 years ago click this]
***WARNING MATURE CONTENT***
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