Recently I read a fabulous article:
The Disadvantage of an Ivy League Education. It was fascinating. Written by Professor By William Deresiewicz, an Ivy League professor, who should know. Read it first, it is self explanatory. Here's a short quote:
...
In short, the way students are treated in college trains them for the social position they will occupy once they get out. At schools like Cleveland State, they’re being trained for positions somewhere in the middle of the class system, in the depths of one bureaucracy or another. They’re being conditioned for lives with few second chances, no extensions, little support, narrow opportunity—lives of subordination, supervision, and control, lives of deadlines, not guidelines. At places like Yale, of course, it’s the reverse.
...
I wondered if the ideas put forth. Has my career been determined by the universities that I went to? Had I gone to an elite university, would my career have been different? Or not?
I then suddenly had the thought. If your life were a movie, what would the theme be? What simple theme would explain your life the best? Think of documentaries, biographies, books, stories, movies that you have seen. It's a fascinating question.
There were so many stories that I thought of. I put a few of them into a short list below.
What stories can you add? What is the theme of your life?
Love story (Romeo and Juliet), love triangles
Comedy (12th Night)
Tragedy (Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet, Othello)
Mystery (Missing, what happened to my brother, parents?)
Adventure
The immigrant story, move to the USA for a better life
Rags to riches
Overcoming adversity (Rudy)
Try to do more with your life and career
Rise up (or fall down) the social ladder
People who overcome an affliction or the loss of their senses (Helen Keller had neither sight or hearing)
Spiritual battle (A Man For All Seasons, The Exorcist)
Search for the truth. (12 Angry Men)
Artists, unappreciated in their time, Vincent Van Gogh
Rivals (Isaac Newton vs Hooke, Leibniz. Tesla vs. Edison)
Crime story (Bernie Madoff)
Courtroom drama (Breaker Morant)
Jealousy, Betrayal, Revenge
Redemption
Changing times: declining social class (The Twilight Samurai, La Nuit De Varennes)
Victim of: crime, abuse, identify theft, rape, police framing, crime, corrupt politicians, mafia
Racism (Remember the Titans)
Fatal flaw: fear, ambition
Psychological issues: (Back To The Future, can't stand ridicule/being called a name)
Family dramas (documentaries on the Kennedys)
Black sheep of the family, orphan, bastard, adopted
Family feuds
Divorces, step brothers and sisters
Stories of a people:
Irish famine, immigration
Armenian genocide
Native Indian stories: take over and exploitation of their land (see the recent documentary: Crude), genocide
Ancient Rome
Ancient China, Japan, Mongols
India (Ghandi)
Ancient Egypt
Mayans and Incas
Africa
Jews
Etc
The Disadvantage of an Ivy League Education. It was fascinating. Written by Professor By William Deresiewicz, an Ivy League professor, who should know. Read it first, it is self explanatory. Here's a short quote:
...
In short, the way students are treated in college trains them for the social position they will occupy once they get out. At schools like Cleveland State, they’re being trained for positions somewhere in the middle of the class system, in the depths of one bureaucracy or another. They’re being conditioned for lives with few second chances, no extensions, little support, narrow opportunity—lives of subordination, supervision, and control, lives of deadlines, not guidelines. At places like Yale, of course, it’s the reverse.
...
I wondered if the ideas put forth. Has my career been determined by the universities that I went to? Had I gone to an elite university, would my career have been different? Or not?
I then suddenly had the thought. If your life were a movie, what would the theme be? What simple theme would explain your life the best? Think of documentaries, biographies, books, stories, movies that you have seen. It's a fascinating question.
There were so many stories that I thought of. I put a few of them into a short list below.
What stories can you add? What is the theme of your life?
Love story (Romeo and Juliet), love triangles
Comedy (12th Night)
Tragedy (Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet, Othello)
Mystery (Missing, what happened to my brother, parents?)
Adventure
The immigrant story, move to the USA for a better life
Rags to riches
Overcoming adversity (Rudy)
Try to do more with your life and career
Rise up (or fall down) the social ladder
People who overcome an affliction or the loss of their senses (Helen Keller had neither sight or hearing)
Spiritual battle (A Man For All Seasons, The Exorcist)
Search for the truth. (12 Angry Men)
Artists, unappreciated in their time, Vincent Van Gogh
Rivals (Isaac Newton vs Hooke, Leibniz. Tesla vs. Edison)
Crime story (Bernie Madoff)
Courtroom drama (Breaker Morant)
Jealousy, Betrayal, Revenge
Redemption
Changing times: declining social class (The Twilight Samurai, La Nuit De Varennes)
Victim of: crime, abuse, identify theft, rape, police framing, crime, corrupt politicians, mafia
Racism (Remember the Titans)
Fatal flaw: fear, ambition
Psychological issues: (Back To The Future, can't stand ridicule/being called a name)
Family dramas (documentaries on the Kennedys)
Black sheep of the family, orphan, bastard, adopted
Family feuds
Divorces, step brothers and sisters
Stories of a people:
Irish famine, immigration
Armenian genocide
Native Indian stories: take over and exploitation of their land (see the recent documentary: Crude), genocide
Ancient Rome
Ancient China, Japan, Mongols
India (Ghandi)
Ancient Egypt
Mayans and Incas
Africa
Jews
Etc
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