Admiration For The Elders

So it's the fourth week of my second semester as a graduate student. So far, all I can say is, Damn, This isn't easy!

Every day is a constant struggle to keep up with work and with school, and still manage time for a shower. Kidding... Kind of. But no, for real. It's a lot of work. But you know what, I'm so blessed and thankful that I have the ability to attend Grad school right now, while I'm still young and single and still somewhat under the wing of my parents.

Every day I go to class I see these women and men who are at least 20 years my senior and realize just how lucky I am. Most of these women and men have full time jobs, real jobs, like go to the office 7-5 monday through friday. And they have kids, a home, probably some pets here, dinner to make, lunches to pack, chauffeuring to and from whatever sport is in season's practice and still manage to find time to not only attend class every week but also find the time to complete the assignments.

Seriously? These folks are my hero. I'm struggling to barely finish all the required reading for the week and it's just me at home. But then again, I suppose I should say these men and women are the true image of dedication. Me, I'd say I have different reasons I'm going to graduate school than they have, but then again maybe I don't.

A fellow classmate of mine who is in his late 60's told me the reason he is starting so late is because back in the 70s when he met his wife and got married she needed to finish her undergraduate degree, as he did as well. However, instead of finishing together he quit school and got a full time job to support his new wife so that she wouldn't have to take out student loans... Aw!! wait, wait, it gets better. Upon her graduation, he decided that the following school year he would go back and finish his undergraduate degree. Unfortunately, life got in the way.

His wife was pregnant, so he had to skip going back to school to get a better job to support his new family. He chose to wait even longer to go back to school because he and his wife wanted to make sure that their now 3 child had the opportunity to go to any college in the US and not have to take out student loans. Needless to say, he worked his butt off for 20 years. As his youngest daughter was about to graduate from college, he reapplied to college to now finish his undergraduate degree... 20 years later.

of course in the end, he finished his undergraduate work and decided to take it to the post- graduate level since now he had put his entire family single-handedly through college without any student loans. What a guy! huh?

I admire this man. I couldn't do it. I can't even begin to imagine how hard he had to work to become successful at his work and in the eyes of his family. The best part is, he finished his undergraduate work with a 3.8 GPA. Can you imagine the dedication and mental toughness this man had to go through to achieve that at the age of 57? Really, I couldn't even tell you how to do formulaic algebra and I took college algebra only 3 years ago...And it will be a distant memory in 10 years and in 20+ years it'll be like it never existed at all to me.

Anyway, my point here is I'm one of the lucky ones. And I am thankful for that every single day. It also shows me what dedication really is. Especially for those of you who personally know me and know I rarely give anything more than 60% worth of effort.

probably should give more but I just don't see the point yet.

Maybe I'll find it one day.

Wish me luck, and next time you see an older adult walking on your college campus, don't look down upon them because they're so much older than you. Look at them in admiration because you've got to be a very strong dedicated person to go back to school, and quite frankly, most of us don't have that.