I didn't do well in high school. I failed Algebra II my Junior year. I started working at the local auto parts store just before tenth grade, and I didn't make too much time for school. The teachers weren't interested in me, nor I in them. Sure, there were the few who stuck out. My coin collecting is a result of my fourth-grade teacher, and my painting skill I owe to my high-school art instructor. The light on the rest seems to fade when it comes to their accomplishments in my life.
So I sold auto parts and didn't care too much for school. No one was there to tell me what I could do or should do; I don't think I was expected to go to college or actually be anybody. So I joined the Army to get something started.
Sometime in my second year of service, it hit me. The Army had taught me something: I should have gone to college. I'm actually smarter than I thought I was after high school. I kept telling myself that I'd made the wrong choice, that I should have never signed that contract.
I tried to attend a local for-profit college, but my military agenda conflicted and overruled that of my educational one. When I finally got out, I immediately enrolled in another private college of a bit higher standing.
I finished an Associate of Information Technology (Honors) at Colorado Tech earlier this year, and got a job in Florida. I'm beginning to think I made the wrong choice again, as I thought in the military. I want to think I would be better off having stayed where I was and finishing a Computer Science or Engineering degree. I saw in the latest IEEE magazine that their president is now a professor at the Computer Science department at CU-Boulder. I'm sure I could have gone there. In fact, I think I could attend and succeed at MIT. But could I even think about applying? If accepted, would it be a possibility to attend? I'm 26, not 18. I've got a child on the way. A family to support.
What I'm really trying to get at is why I'm 26 and not finished with college, and why I'm not where I feel that I'm operating at my full potential.
I'm constantly in the process of reading five or more books at any given time. I want to know everything. I like to listen to and play music. I want to be a good father. I love computing, but I don't make enough time for it. I want to be more knowledgeable about politics and law so I can be an informed and involved citizen. I want to contribute to my community, but I don't have the time.
Or is this my full potential? Never. I am better than this. Given the opportunity, I will do so much more. In the words of John Mayer, "I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for."
1 comment:
First of all welcome back.
Second. I finished college when I was 30. I don't believe that I have maxed out on my potential. The only people who are operating at their full potential are those that can't see anything else. If you think you can't learn more, you won't. If you think you can't go farther, you don't.
I also read(or listen to) several books at a time. Usually I try to get different subjects and topics going so that I keep it interesting. I am thinking about grad or law school and I am 31. I want to go to someplace good though like GW or Georgetown.
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