GRADUATION DAY

I think you would agree that life is an ongoing school of higher education. And so with that concept in mind, I would like to report that It is graduation time again for me.

I have wrapped up another multi-year matriculation by finding my way through the usual maze of obstacles.  I have conquered the challenges through a combination of hard work, applied experience, hands on learning, and my usual penchant for cramming. The fact that I still cut classes occasionally is something I guess I'll never outgrow.

Let's say that I majored in Organizational Management with minors in various Liberal Arts. There definitely was no science involved in the curriculum, nor logic, and very little math - at least none within the formal classwork and lecture programs. 

There were two courses that left big impressions on me. One, which I did not expect to have to take again, was a 5 credit course on "Destructive Management Practices". This course spanned 2 semesters and presented a comprehensive review of both proven practices and classic technique, along with some new twists on old techniques. These were referred to collectively, I believe, as "NEO-nonsense".  Probably the single best nugget from this course provided me with a profoundly new perspective and a more complete understanding of how many ways optimism can be torpedoed or a discussion can be ground to a halt through the delivery of a well intentioned, but totally destructive response. In this course, we resurrected the NON SEQUITUR and the OFF TOPIC RESPONSE, using both with abandon.

The second course was an oldie, but a goodie: "Power Building thru Information Management" - a practice that I thought was abandoned somewhere in the 70s. What was great about this course was not only the demonstration that a once dead practice could be revived again, but that it could be merged with other neo-nonsense techniques to completely leave the unsuspecting in a dumbfounded state. I learned from a Machiavellian master ! However, I got a C in the course.

And, as in my previous post graduate studies, I left the program early.

It was not my intention when I started to end up in this multi-disciplined program, nor was it my intention to leave early. I came in with a different major in mind, and a very simple expectation for what I would learn. At that time, more than 3 years ago, I was fresh and wide eyed, expectant and positive. But as the years wore on, so did my patience, resolve and finally, interest in the original subject. Even now, I feel so worn down that I am completing this paper without emotion, in a purely perfunctory manner. 

Looking back over the years, the frustrations mounted like the build up of plaque in one's arteries - an insipid sort of destruction where damage builds quietly and gradually, until at some point, the disease overcomes the body's ability to combat it and if left untreated, causes a vital breakdown. In my case, I really felt the buildup in quantum fashion. Looking back, I can point to 3, 4, maybe 6 discrete events that deposited a scaly calcification onto my vital passages. 

But I did survive, because in my case, I did something about it. I graduated.

So let's not seem too negative. I came away a more learned man. Sometimes my learning was delivered in the same negative fashion that my dad employed, but the learning came none the less. Graduation is a time for celebration and moving on; of wrapping up and looking forward to the next challenge. Both of which I plan to do in about 60 minutes from now.