My life's path in twenty learning years

by Jim Renton

comparison-contrast
cause-effect

In 2019, I'll be happily married to a beautiful wife and living in a luxury
beach front house with our two wonderful children and all the stray pets I
can find. I will be a successful and high paid executive at a large
technology company. My free time will be spent feeding the homeless and
caring for the poor. Every year I will donate 20% of my salary to charity.
On Sunday, I will go to church and worship. In 2019, I will live the life
of a happy American family man.

Okay, reader, welcome to the nineties. Now that you've read some sterile
hogwash, I will describe my life in another twenty years. By 2019, I don't
want to lead a so-called average life with many constants. I want to spend
every day doing something new and innovative instead of doing "the same old
thing" day in and day out.

Sure, some stability is beneficial for most people. And while I hope that
my friends and family remain constant, I have a burning desire for change.
I enjoy different and difficult endeavors that expand my horizons.

At sixteen, I was fed up with high school. The classes were boring and
repetitive, most of my fellow students had no ambitions and school felt like
a giant clique which I wasn't ever a part of. I knew that I could never
advance socially. Put simply, I was fed up with the same old thing.
Instead of just complaining about the situation, I took action and graduated
early. I am now a full time student at Diablo Valley College. My desire to
leave the dead end I was in at high-school and attend DVC led me to a place
where there are numerous opportunities for me to advance both academically
and socially. At DVC my opinions in class are valued, the assigned work is
interesting and the students are civil to one another. Students lacking an
interest in school don't come to class. It is uncommon for an academically
achieving student to suddenly leave high school in the middle of his junior
year. In the upscale town of Moraga, where I live, my early graduation from
high school is something I keep quiet about, as many people would not
consider my departure socially acceptable. I went against the norm because
I sought the opportunity to succeed at a new school. My switch was
innovative, as I skipped my remaining year and a half of high school and
went directly to college.

My example of leaving high school early reflects the kind of person I am.
Ever since leaving I have become even more innovative. As a side project, I
have been practicing law in the capacity of non-attorney counsel. I have
read much about medical malpractice and I occasionally talk to different and
interesting people in internet chat rooms. I am studying about the stock
market and follow it daily. I love these new and interesting projects.

In twenty years, I will probably be submerged in a job with plenty of
different projects to continue expanding my horizons. By 2019, one of my
projects may have led to a new invention. Whatever I wind up doing in
twenty years, I need a job where I can have my own turf and be innovative.
Looking at one of the best possible scenarios, I could become very
innovative, strike it rich and be wealthy enough to never again work a day
in my life. But I wouldn't stop working. In fact, I can never see myself
without some type of a job. If I ever retire, I'll still keep busy doing
consulting part-time or working on a new invention or learning something
new. That's just who I am. If I didnt have something that I could be
creative with, I would be bored out of my mind. On the other hand, if I
have an innovative project to keep me busy, my mind will continue to expand,
I will continue to grow and I will be happy.

As for the details, sure, I would like to be handsome and married to a
beautiful wife. Statistically, I could easily have been married and
divorced, maybe even twice, by the time I reach thirty-seven. I might have
two or three children. But it's also likely that I could be arguing with my
ex-wife over child custody. I could be working abroad. Or I could be
bankrupt after pouring all my money into one of my innovative ideas gone
sour.

You may think, wow Jim has already written 792 words about where he wants to
be in the year 2019. The length is decent and the content covers everything
from my past psychology and my current activities, which link a bridge to my
future ambitions. Each year, I intend to cross another step of the bridge
and I hope each step will be in the proper direction, because by the time I
blow out the candles of my birthday cake on my thirty-seventh birthday, I
want my bridge to lead to the peak of a mountain. I want to look from the
peak and see a new horizon leading me to more learning and innovation.

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Questions? Brian McKinney (bmckinne@home.com)