Learn from the mistakes of others

Charles Sykes On the rules of life for graduates.

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 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school OR
    college. 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 until you get a boss. He
    doesn't have tenure.

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 are. So before you save the
    rain forest from the parasites of your parents' 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; 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.