Photo reblogged from danny + law = dan(e)law with 49 notes

So, the photo itself is BS (not real, but good advice nonetheless), but the young man that reposted his own lessons is doomed to a life where he believes his own mediocrity is someone else’s fault. He’ll be in the 47%, in case you’re looking for him. His notes are below.

danelaw:

Okay, maybe it’s Bill Gates’ appropriated smugness that ticks me off. Maybe it’s because there’s eleven rules when this could have been done in five. Maybe it’s the tacky School of Success crest. Maybe I’m just in a bad mood.

So I wrote my own rules, based on these rules.

Why? Because rules are made to be broken. Or at least, re-appropriated in a cliche attempt at “out-of-the-box thinking.”

Life isn’t fair, but let’s not pretend that unearned privilege and pure dumb luck won’t play a huge role in who gets ahead in life and who doesn’t. Accomplishing stuff feels great, but that’s not where self-esteem comes from. Self-esteem comes from recognizing your own self-worth independent of the stuff that you can accomplish. Your value as a human being is not tied to the contributions you give to society. Sure you won’t make $60,000 a year right out of high school (or even college), and it’s unreasonable to think you will. But they do tell you this in school. That’s why they tell us to go to college or grad school and become teachers, doctors, lawyers, or engineers. That’s also why the Millennial generation *cough*us*cough* is the best educated in American history. Most bosses are just like you, and just like with your schoolwork, it’s a good idea to do your best. That being said, unlike your teachers who probably had your best interests in mind, your boss only really cares about the bottom line. This isn’t a rule, more of an observation though. My grandparents lived in a very different time, with very different expectations. There’s nothing undignified about flipping burgers, but the instant you try to justify something by saying it was done the halcyon days long past, you kind of lose all credibility. If I mess up it’s not my parents’ fault - but they also teach you this in school. And in school, people do learn from their mistakes. So I guess I agree? We are not here out of my own free will. Existence was thrust upon us by our parents either intentionally or by mistake. That means they owe us. They owe us everything they can give us to help us succeed because it was their choices that brought us here. We’ll owe the same to our children. Moreover it was their choices that made the world we live in today - and we’re the ones who are going to be living with the consequences. So while it’s important to keep your room clean and your closet organized, it’s also important to save the rainforest - because while we didn’t ruin it, we’re the ones who are going to deal with the consequences. And it has to start now. That way, we can teach our children that responsibility begins at home and extends to the world around us. This is just untrue, people fuck up all the time and they get plenty of second chances. Look at Congress. Or the bailouts. Rule 9 should be rewritten to say “take time to find yourself, if you can, but don’t be in a rush to do it because people change too.” Television is not real life - most of us figured this out for ourselves when we realized we couldn’t transform by simply yelling “BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!” Or alternatively, when we realized wrestling was fake. Either way, we didn’t need to learn it in school. Be nice to everyone. You never know where you (or they) will be down the road.

fwd:FWD:FWD;fwd /smugness THINGS WERE BETTER IN THE OLD DAYS WHEN MEN WERE MEN AND DINOSAURS ROAMED THE EARTH.