I Should Be Rich

No one knows my name

Why is it that there are 17-year-old girls retiring, 16-year-old boys with the option of skipping school to stay home and play Rock Band Guitar Hero, and other Kid Stars who (by some stroke of luck) have had their 10 minutes of fame and are living “the dream”, while I am stuck here muddling through day by day – no thousands of dollars of cash flowing in, no fan mail, no hate mail, no press, nothing!

It disgusts me, really.

While I’ve had my share of procrastination and failures, I am was all but a child prodigy. I skipped Kindergarten and Senior Year, and got a Bachelors degree in 2 1/2 years after that! Where’s all the hulabaloo for me? I guess you have to finish college pre-12th birthday to be news worthy these days. I’m special, but not special enough for the masses.

The difference between me and all those guys is that I don’t want 10 minutes of fame. I want my opinion to be respected for longer than that. I want people to call me asking for advice – even if it’s something I don’t know anything about! I love to learn, hear your side of the story, try to approach a situation rationally and come to an original or at least sensible solution. I am always up for a debate! I don’t even mind losing!

I’m no genius either. I am not a number-crunching, conniving schemer looking to swindle everyone out of their money. I just don’t like going with the flow. I want people to know that you don’t have to fit the mold to be successful. You don’t have to have a 4.0 GPA to succeed. You don’t have to get into Yale or Harvard to have your thoughts be looked up to.

So it’s up to me to pave a path, search for new ways of making your voice heard, define a new definition of success – be yourself. That’s no excuse to be lazy, slack off, or just generally be a pig. But you should be able to enjoy your life without trying to please everybody’s expectations of you.