Message to the "Time Out" Generation

I got this email a couple of months ago and it says it is a speech that Bill Gates gave to a high school. But I looked it up on Snopes, and as it is a real list made up by someone it is not a speech Bill Gates gave. It is was actually created by a guy named Charles J Sykes who has written a book called Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, or Add. I am not sharing this list to say that every high school student or college graduate thinks these things, I just think in todays society when it's about instant gratification and having to have it all, it seems there is an "everybody owes me something" attitude, when it hasn't really been earned. I am not exempt from having thought a couple of these. I remember after I graduated from high school being excited to not have to get up in the morning until I wanted to, and that lasted about a week until my after school job turned into a full time job. So even though Bill Gates didn't write it, it is still a good list.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it Opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault , so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.