No Such Thing

"So the good boys and girls take the so called right track

Faded white hats

Grabbing credits

Maybe transfers

They read all the books but they can't find the answers

And all of our parents

They're getting older

I wonder if they've wished for anything better

While in their memories

Tiny tragedies"

This part of the song from John Mayer's No Such Thing really stands out right now. What's the best way to go in life? No one has that answer. Even if you think you do, you don't. Everything is customary to each person in this world. Just like no two snowflakes are alike, nor two fingerprints, no two humans are exactly alike with their life decisions and route they take to live. 

So why does society tell us what is best? Does having an iPhone, going to see _____ movie, or even going to _____ school make you who you are? Make what your life should be? I'm not here to preach how to live your life. I don't even know how to really live my life outside of the basics of what works for me: having a solid faith and relationship with God, love my family and girlfriend, and be as kind and good to everyone around me. But outside of that, what makes life "livable"? 

I'm fighting to figure out my transfer issues with college right now, and it's a real drag to deal with because of the system that's so problematic. I could go into how messed up it is that people who aren't even a citizen like the other 310+ million of us are, are getting into college easier than I am, or how because my parents make "just enough" "on paper" that I can't apply for FAFSA. Thanks alot, middle class white society for that one. 

But really, ever since the dawn of time, the ones that pursue knowledge have turned it into a club to pay to know what they've learned. Not that it's a bad thing. We wouldn't have a lot of things we have today if it wasn't for the people who want to know whats past the stars, or under the sea, or how to make something brighter than a candle and create a spark of electricity. But what's wrong is how selective this club is now. You need a ____ GPA to walk the halls of brainiac university. Better yet, you even need to be of a certain social class to even be looked at right from people. Perfect example: Matt Damon's character Will Hunting from Good Will Hunting. He was a JANITOR for the whizzes that created theorems and hypothesis. Yet he solved a problem that no one else could. Sure he's a rare case, but who is really one to deny anyone of access to knowledge if they really want to pursue it? 

I understand it stems from hard work, and that a lot of people could fail the system for being there so long if they don't understand their areas of work. But why can't we restructure the system on a pay-to-know basis? There's a recent trend in the schools that allow you to retake a class up to three times before you can't take it anymore in the California junior college system. And it's not even from that. What purpose does everyone need to know on the basis of basic classes past high school? Gen-ed college is barely more than what I learned in high school. Why can't it be open-sourced for people that actually WANT to know the information, and pursue it for however long, be accessible easier than the hoops needed to jump through to get to your passions?

I'm going to cool off and think more about my thoughts on this, but this is what's been on my mind this morning.