My Apologies to the Young Man That Cuts Our Lawn

A few weeks ago, an esteemed executive told me that I shouldn’t admit to having someone cut my lawn, because I guess it’s something one should take a great deal of shame in.  I believe this man, because he’s an extremely hard working, talented, visionary.  Just ask him.  Scratch that.  You probably won’t need to.  He’ll volunteer that information.

So, in my shame, I want to apologize.  I apologize for giving a high school student a summer job and allowing him to develop a healthy work ethic.  I apologize for paying him more than what he asked for, because we felt that he was under charging for his product (which is, quite frankly, amazing).  I apologize for helping him save for college.  And, lastly, I’m sorry I made the rash decision to hire someone to cut my grass without making sure that it was the socially acceptable thing to do.

Next time I make even the most minor life decision, I will make sure to ask a high and mighty, over educated, executive.  As I lack the social aptitude and intellectual wherewithal to make such decisions on my own.

My Background – Part 3: The Next Freud…Gulp!

When it came time for college, I wasn’t particularly motivated about it. I thought it would just be more of what I had to suffer through in high school. I decided that just an associates degree from the local community college would do. I could hopefully get through it and play around on computers for a living. Then something happened that I can only partially remember. I remember laying in my bed and somehow coming the the decision that my decision was based on the safest bet and not on what I actually wanted to do. I wanted to be a psychologist. I wanted to learn everything I could about the human mind and help people to use theirs better. At this time in my life, I was at my most annoying. I must have thought I was the reincarnation of Freud, because I somehow believed that everyone needed my “brilliant” insights into their minds. I believe that there is very little trace of this behavior in the current manifestation of my personality. However, my wife would probably beg to differ.

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My Background – Part 1: The high school years…

Let’s start with what I can remember from High school. I seem to have a very poor episodic memory…bordering on some odd form of retrograde amnesia. It makes me a bad story teller, but a very forgiving person. I was a social person in high school, but I still spent a great deal of time in books and on the computer (big surprise). I liked to read about eastern religions, philosophy, and psychology. Since the things I liked reading were not the things I was being graded on, I didn’t do too well in school. I self-medicated my intellect on what I felt were more worthwhile endeavors. I felt like the way I was taught in school amounted to intellectual spoon-feeding, and held very little real insight.

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