About Life ***

1. Life is not fair. Get used to it. Deal with it. People are flat tired of hearing you say "It's not fair!" 


2. The real world won't care as much about your precious self-esteem as your school does. This may come as a shock to you when you get out there but the world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. 


3. We're sorry to have to tell you this but … odds are you won't make $50,000 a year right out of school as a vice president with a BMW and a car phone. You may even have to wear a uniform without a designer label. 


4. If you think that your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. Bosses don't have tenure and aren't protected by the teachers' union. 


5. Flipping burgers and bussing tables is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for those type of jobs. They called them "opportunity." 


6. It is not your parents' or society's fault if you mess up. You're responsible for your actions. This is the flip side of "It's my life" and "You're not my boss." 


7. Before you were born your parents were not boring. They got that way paying your bills and listening to you. So before you save the 'rain forest' and the 'oppressed workers overseas' from the parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your room and using disinfectant in your toilet. 


8. Life after school is not divided into semesters. You won't get summers off. You won't get a spring break. You may even have to work Christmas Day. You are expected to show up at work every day and earn your pay; and, you won't get to start your life over every ten weeks. 


9. Smoking does not make you look cool and mature. To any adult with a modicum of intelligence, you look like a punk or a slut. 


10. Television is NOT reality. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop or their friends' apartments and go to a job. 


11. High school may be "outcome-based" but life isn't. In many schools you are given as many times as you want to get the answer right. Standards are set low enough so everyone can meet them. This bears not the slightest resemblance to anything you will encounter in real life …. as you will soon discover. 


12. Be nice to people who are 'different' than you or not as 'cool' as you ... especially 'geeks.' Chances are you'll be working for one of them in the very near future. 


Good luck. You are going to need it. By the way: The harder you work the luckier you get.