Dear Billy Bob:
My girlfriend and I are fixin” to get hitched soon. Do you have any advice for us?
Sincerely,
In Love and Confusion
Dear In Love and Confusion:
Throughout history marriage has been the foundation of the family, providing a stable environment essential for raising children. As your minister will tell you, it is not to be entered into lightly. So get to know this woman”s character, values, goals, and her family. You don”t just marry a spouse, you marry the whole family. As Ben Franklin said, “Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.”
If you pull together the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. If you are at odds, life can be a hell you haven”t imagined yet. So if you”re going to get married, my advice is the same as if you”re going to hitch a couple horses to pull a wagon-make sure the heads are pointin” in the same direction.
Dear Billy Bob:
I”m a freshman in high school, and I don”t really like my classes. I”d rather work on my hobbies. My counselor advised me to take college prep classes, but it doesn”t feel right to me. She says without a college degree I won”t likely succeed in life. What should I do?
Sincerely,
Clueless
Dear Clueless:
Listen to your intuition; you aren”t clueless. You say you”d rather work on your hobbies. A career of work you hate will make life miserable.
If college is right for you, go for it. However, I think more high schools should provide skills training for those students who are not interested in college prep courses. We have enough lawyers to start exporting (or exiling) them. There are many cases of college graduates who can”t find work, or don”t like their job if they find one, and then have massive debt from student loans. There are also many cases of extremely successful entrepreneurs who never went to college. A college degree will open many doors, but make sure you want to be in that building. Try to take classes that interest you, even if you have to go outside of your school to find them.
A broad general education is important and you won”t know what will be useful to you years from now, but it will all help you in some way. Even if you never use algebra as an adult, it will help you to do the mental exercise.
Who knows, you might need it, I did. As an adult you will often have to tough it out and do unpleasant things. If you are raised without challenges you will be unprepared to handle them as an adult. So learn to appreciate the classes you don”t like, realize that it”s part of life preparation.
If you goal is just to make money, you”ll find success a Pyrrhic victory. “For what does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?” St. Matthew 16:26. When you do what you love to do, the money will likely come as a by-product. Don”t confuse this. Money is just money, happiness is happiness.
Bill Woodruff is a longtime Lake County resident and former business owner.
