Degrees (Using Knowledge In The Real World)

Life is as good as we can use our knowledge to survive successfully. Other than that, all degrees and diplomas are just “sheep skins” that “look pretty”. With that said, I begin this article. Once, Judge Judith “Judy” Sheindlin wrote a book called “Beauty Fades, Dumb Is Forever”. I read the book and got the full message. Getting through on empty credits without any genuine foundations messes lives up fully, so fully, that sometimes by the end of those lives even if “successful” they are a “train wreck”, “junk heap” and nothing to be aspired to even to imitate as an example.

What I mean by the words “genuine foundations” of course is the sense of reality or “street sense of survival” to back up the “book sense” and “pretty diplomas” gotten in schools and learning institutions.

Indeed, reality is an experience, not empty credits and ego building that says “you made it, you succeeded already without doing anything, now go forth!” Reality is a practical experience in doing something real, not anything more, not anything less, and you either sink, swim or get through it somehow ‘dog paddling’ to survival.

So, no matter how our egos are built by degrees, diplomas or graduating, if you do not have the real experience in life to back you up, you are in trouble. Theory and bravado is not going to help you fight a thief in the street, only calm, realistic working knowledge of how to survive and realistically (even if you decide to fight if you know how to) act on what to do is. That brings me to a point: Reality comes down to what we can do in it, not the egoistic accolades given by it without doing anything yet.

So, I end with an anecdote about the Los Angeles Rams: In 2016, a quarterback named Jared Goff was drafted straight out of college halfway unproven for a total of $46.9 million dollars with a large signing bonus, and he did not win a single Super Bowl with the team as predicted by the betting pundits, and sports color analysts and the like over the four season period (2016-2020) he was with the Los Angeles Rams, and almost fifty million dollars is a steep price to pay for disappointment and at least he has the experience to back things up now that he is with the Detroit Lions. The point to this anecdote is that whatever the expectations, reality had better be fulfilled by function and experience or else it all means nothing, disappointment or whatever negative you want to call it.

So, to end with a little street language: Reality is cold hard cash, and nothing else matters except the results you get, good or bad.